Dark Prince 3
by Helltanz98
Summary: In the wake of the Chinese Invasion of Kyushu Japan hovers perilously close to the precipice. The aftermath highlights both strengths and weaknesses in Japan and abroad. Sawasaki has proclaimed a new period of warring states has come to be, and he may be more right than even he realizes. An imminent threat is faced by Tokyo, as Kyoto's control weakens.
1. Chapter 1

-scene break-

Chapter 1

Helltanz's notes: This is the rough draft of the third in the series. Chapter 2 is mostly done, and this has been mostly finished for a time as well. There are probably some minor errors remaining, but there were requests to put this up.

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass, this is done strictly for non profit.

-scene break-

Lelouch vi Britannia pulled his shirt back on, and slowly buttoned it up. The routine physical was normally just a formality, but the stiffness in his neck was enough of a problem he'd mentioned it to the doctor. G forces were explanation; it was just the cost of piloting an knightmare and getting hit... more than once, and crashing through a building. It was really nothing a couple of aspirin and some rest wouldn't fix. The same could be said for the loss of life that had affected all sides involved in the recent skirmish in Kyushu.

The news media wouldn't shut up over the 'weekend war', and the Tokyo Settlement was abuzz over the possible repercussions of the event. To be honest though every major city in Japan was like that... even this far north in relative serenity of Hokkaido. Here though, safely behind the masses of HAG troops, Lelouch could confidently tend to his duties. The Thorian lapel pin glinted from its place on its jacket. Still the question of remaining in Japan was one that very much hung over him now that Sawsaki had outed him to the world.

The end of the weekend war had left a sour taste in everyone's mouth. Kyushu wasn't happy. China certainly wasn't. Britannia was downright furious. Hell the only person who really seemed to be enjoying themselves over this mess was Lelouch's cousin the Russian Tsar.. if the letter commending him, Lelouch, and medal that had accompanied it were any indication. Of course there was also a request for an expansion of the Warlock production lines as well... so there was that. The issue with the Russians though was second fiddle compared to other concerns on the ground in Japan.

"Sir." The HAG officer saluted, which he mechanically returned as he left the office.

Hokkaido had been where he'd wanted to bring Nunnally... at least when he'd first started working it all out. The truth though was that between the beginning, not long after the invasion, of establishment and the present day he'd decided the Tokyo was best. He'd come close to changing his mind a dozen times, but it would have meant uprooting Nunnally from the life she had grown entrenched to living at Ashford.

Today Hokkaido might have been the safest city in Japan, but when the Japanese Resistance groups had not initially taken the Black Knights well. Their distrust and dislike had been one thing, but the terrorists had quickly labeled it a threat. It had been a fateful bombing that had killed well over a dozen Black Knight Personnel a few years ago that had dissuaded Lelouch from bringing Nunnally here.

The Black Knight response to the attack had been harsh, and unrelenting in its fury... not the least of which because Lelouch had known personally those amongst the dead. If Cornelia ever learned about the event she would no doubt compare the affair to the assassination of his mother at the Ares estate, which would have been unfortunate and irritating. In the aftermath Hokkaido had begun to be used interchangeably with Sapporo. Today though Hokkaido, the entirely island, was safe... a fortress demense of the Black Knights.

Lelouch looked around, and liked what he saw when he watched the metropolitan layout. It was true that the city been nearly rebuilt from effectively the ground up, but not because of the war. In truth the province of Hokkaido had surrendered without much fighting and the Britannians had not paid it much mind. There were buildings in Sapporo that were pre Britannian rule, but it was hard to tell the difference... especially when either were likely to have 'boys be ambitious' inscribed on them more often than not. Ambition had helped rebuild here.

People flocked in as security was proven time and again, and those Japanese who would not have had jobs had they lived south found employment they were qualified for. The Black Knights Fortress did not design itself after all. It had been a collaborative effort. Brittannian, Russian, Japanese amongst others had all been involved. All things considered the new look suited it. "Welcome back sir."

He nodded to his aide de camp, "I take it that that is the abridged compilation of Combat Performance Reports?" It wasn't really a question, because the mass of paperwork was what he'd been waiting on for days. It was, and Lelouch accepted the packet, and stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to take him up to ninety ninth floor. At, a tallest point, of just under 400 meters the Black Knights regional headquarters 'zone' was an expansive and complex campus of interconnected, and free buildings. It also had its own Radar command and control system entirely autonomous from the airports nearby... a closely guarded secret. Most people, as it happened, were more concerned to stare at the motorpool, and the knightmares.

It was from this lofty vantage point Lelouch could look out over the city. Nearby Ishikari had had its harbor extensively expanded, and was now basically an extension of what was Sapporo. The metropolitan area grew rather than contracted as so many had. Reconstruction, and expansion of the city had been an all consuming task. Sadly no such effort could be mounted in Kyushu... though very large numbers of heavy industrial machinery had been reported deployed by Chinese humanitarian works as of late. Still for the moment Lelouch was content to stare at the reports on combat performance. "JCFIR has flagged additional traffic for review, and wants to expedite our security review of Hokkaido." He remarked, which given the ease of which the Fukuoka installation had been turned against Britannia seemed a wise course. "Katsuya will need to see to that, particularly given the port security." The true meat of the report though was mechanical in nature... pages upon pages about the various war machines involved in the fighting.

"I understand, there is also the matter of the Assault Frames -"  
The man left the comment to hang in the air, "I know," He replied tersely. More than half were now inoperable, and would remain thus for the foreseeable future... the unfortunate reality of using what were nearly all prototypes in real combat. Finicky parts were just one of the problems... and wasn't actually including combat losses either. It was a simple enough fix to repair the servos in the Merlin's arm the problem before them though was substantially more trying with regards to logistics. While they'd made their bests effort to conceal the extent of logistical hurdles to restore the damage done by the fighting. Building a single custom frame was actually relatively easy... limited production series was where it ran into complications. Once you had mass production handled then you could just churn out spare parts... a capacity that did not exist for things like the Hardrock A-KMF. "I don't suppose we've gotten a report yet about Kyoto's logistic situation?" It had been a week already so it was possible, but then old man Kirihara had been rather quiet thus far. Then there was the issue of Todoh with the return of the JLF... that had been a lapse. For Lelouch this only highlighted the unfortunate harbinger of what was coming...

The Chinese Invasion of Kyushu might have been resolved, but it only demonstrated how close to the precipice Japan really was. China was also now dangerously alert, regarding Russia, which presented a whole other set of potential headaches. The potential of open warfare in Japan... as Sawasaki had so cheerfully put it 'Sengoku Jidai' ... would bog down immeasurable amounts of resources. Then of course there were others problems... whilst knightmares occupied the public eye they were not the sole Black Knight operation. Paramilitary focus dominated their armed detachments, but that lacked the glamor of the walking war machines.

"We do have the logistics reports from Prussia," His aide finally announced.

Lelouch glanced sideways, and tossed other report. "I'll take it now then," The factions of the Black Knights allowed for a great deal of misdirection... especially with regards to their size. It was kind of the whole point for the set up. The Germans Panzer Humell translated to mean armored butterfly. There were other EU frames of course, but Spanish and Italian indigenous designs had more evident flaws... especially the latter after the accident in Parma... which Lelouch had absolutely nothing to do with. "Are they..." was Konigsberg actually serious, "Actually referring to knightmares in general as walking armor?" He shook his head and continued to peruse. Beyond the quirks though the latest from Europe was relevant from an industrial standpoint... and defense, "So they're moving the Igel into test phase." The last thing they really needed was a larger heavier panzer hummel, but well standoff attack seemed to be what they were going for. Lelouch kicked back and started reading again.

-scene break-

Cornelia hurled the phone across the room... sooner or later Lelouch was going to answer his phone and when he did she was going to give him such an earful. Right now though this was a military matter, and regardless of wanting to lay low there was need for soldiers and their weapons of war. It was just an unfortunate reality the plants which produced her Gloucesters were far from here.

Still that mousy little upstart Sawasaki had given them such a headache by announcing Lelouch to the public... and that same public was going wild... so she could understand that. In the mean time the homeland was proving less than forthcoming. Her oldest brother had made promises of support, but it would take time to deliver them if they were coming at all. As much as she'd loathed the speech Sawasaki had broadcast throughout Japan... he did admittedly have a point. One the public had grasped in the days since the 'weekend war' had ended. Oh how she loathed hearing that term every single time she turned on the news.

It was a buzzword they were constantly using... accompanied by footage from the conflict. Some of the more brazen networks had even broadcast more sensitive footage. Some of it had been of the various different and new knightmares ... others had been pictures of behind the lines. The latter had mainly been wounded, or even officers talking or just moving too and from, but the damage to the Avalon was a problem. That horrid looking line of scorched melted metal across the side of Schneziel's pride was a bloody nose to the public. If the reports from Military Intelligence were to be believed the Black Knights had had tow the Skidbladnir back to its dock as well. She had no idea how serious the damage to that was, but the Avalon alone looked pretty severe. It wasn't something that any news outlet was going to forget... nor the public given it was one the television seemingly several times an hour.

The city of Tokyo... no the whole metropolis was dominated by the gossip about the conflict. Faced with that challenge the newscasters... even ones from allegedly responsible and respectable outlets sought every little rumor out... any tiny piece of information to try and out compete their rivals, and it was driving her insane... and Euphemia was and wasn't helping... and then there was Clovis who she didn't even want to broach on... and Speaking of the blonde devil.

"Viceroy," An underling intoned carefully sticking his head into the office of the Viceroy, which had gone a significantly more spartan since Cornelia had taken up residence.

Cornelia li Britannia rounded on yet another one of Clovis's stooges as the man scurried into the room arms laden with no doubt the latest briefing on the state of the Area. She was almost tempted to demand what had happened now, because really it was a good thing that Area 11 had two sub viceroys. Clovis knew what he was doing, for the most part, when it came to managing the civilian side of things. As it happened Euphemia needed someone to help get used to things. Except Clovis had decided that clearly he needed his own personal order of knights, and was trying to open a full size factory for knightmare parts, under his direct control, in the Tokyo metropolis... which had been encouraged by Schneziel. So Clovis had all but blown her off. "What is it?"

"Prince Clovis has asked for you..." The man paused chewing slightly on his lower lip, "and if possible for Prince Lelouch to attend... if he happens to be available."

Cornelia took note of the last bit... mostly because it implied Lelouch wasn't answering Clovis's calls either, which was in its own way a small comfort. "What does my brother happen to want?" It wasn't likely she couldn't guess. Cornelia's Gloucesters had in their own way been revolutionary when they'd been unveiled. Each of the three first generation prototypes had been built to exacting tolerances and custom specifications. The Glaston knights had gotten to use the test types, under whom the Gloucester had demonstrated it could be produced to outfit entire units, whilst still having extensive parts compatibility with the Sutherland, and other Sutherland variations... and yet it was a fifth generation frame in a rapidly shifting world... the first, post conflict, casualty report demonstrated that.

With a total just under a thousand 'official' military losses it was steep price for a mere three days of fighting. Of course discounting whatever percentage of the dead were courtesy of Russian naval surface warfare elements still didn't make this easy to swallow publicly. It was a public relations nightmare. Naturally the hawks were baying for blood over the Britannian component of the war dead... or just the audacity of the Chinese to begin with. So Cornelia understood her priority needed to be reinforcing what parts of Area 11 that were under her control. "Lets go see what my brother wants," She barked at Guildford who fell in behind her as Clovis's flunky led the way... no doubt to one of Clovis's obnoxious limousines.

The waiting white monstrosity was met only with contempt, but at least it was bulletproof, which was a small comfort.

-scene break-

Where as Lelouch had had the option of fleeing back to Hokkaido for Kallen the had been no such luxury. Nope... not an option... her dad had called from the homeland and told her to go back to school... and Lelouch had pretty much said the same thing.

The red head thumped her head against the wall of Ashford accademy. Oghi and the others couldn't go back to the Tokyo area... which was a problem, but she was already regretting coming back to Ashford tucked away deep within the Brittanian Settlement. No one at school wanted to talk about the conflict... not really talk about it. It was the same thing on the news they just wanted to say 'we won', and gossip... and maybe for five minutes consider where the future lay. She just had to sit here in this stupid school and take it.

The Japanese though were at a crossroads... "Oh your back," She grunted at Suzaku, who was in his military uniform... "What happened did you have to go run to the store for the pinkette?" She took no small glee when Suzaku flinched.

"I was actually coming to see you," He responded, "I was kind of hoping you might have heard something from Lelouch."

That made it her turn to do the flinching because Rivalz and Shirley both rounded on here jumping at the idea she might have heard something, which she hadn't. That in itself was annoying. "No Shirley I haven't heard anything from your precious Lulu, but don't worry I'm sure he's fine. He's probably waxing poetic about the endless silence or something," Or doing paperwork... loathe as she was to admit it... here at least Oghi and Tamaki both remarked that administration was actually hard work. Still talks about that subject probably wouldn't go over well... the Black Knights were a paramilitary organization.

Milly chose to interrupt the burgeoning comotion with a handily placed couple of swats from a rolled up newspaper that had been conveniently laying around, "We're supposed to be working guys this Special Edition isn't going to write itself, and since Lelouch isn't here Kallen and Suzaku get to be our main interviews. What did you say your knightmare was?"

"It the Gurren," Suzaku interjected, for her. "I don't know if we really should be talking about it I mean it was a military operation." He continued, "I mean a lot about those knightmares is probably classified information."

Kallen snorted, but admitted that, Suzaku might have a point, but predictably Milly just waved those complaints aside. "Oh come on. Its not like Ashford is going to be making copies of your giant robot." The red head didn't find the idea of anyone making more copies of the Gurren particularly funny. "I just want to know the basics, and you know some personnel opinions I mean you both have the cutting edge in knightmares as far as things go." Milly had already figured out she could head off or start and argument about knightmares between the two fairly easily. It just really depended on what the blonde was looking for... and right now she was fishing for answers and bylines for the school paper. Except that this issue was for more than just the school. Kallen understood that plenty of people were grasping for answers... and Ashford name recognition meant something. There had already been a couple of more daring reporters who'd had to be thrown off the campus after trying to sneak in, and a couple of off campus interviews with students. Some of those had ranged from professional to outright harassment. The calls from the Stadtfeld house her step mother left on her voice mail were exceedingly annoying...

Kallen wasn't even sure what she was even supposed to do in that scenario. At least she had some degree of common ground with Cornelia, knightmares, her step mother was just a harpy always going on about something or another. It was, in her opinion, pretty fucked up when she was having an easier time talking with the viceroy about things. She was stuck here, just like, she imagined, how Kyoto was caught between the JLF and the Black Knights. Stuck between Ashford, and a military career the extent of which she'd never imagined.

The battle over Kyushu had involved an extraordinary number of frames. It was a conflict where every side involved had Japanese soldiers piloting knightmares. That alone should have shown how utterly screwed up the situation had become. A single look at the Settlement though made it difficult to accept that anything had changed yet.

A bell rang, and for Kallen that meant heading to another class.

-scene break-

Schneziel el Britannia in an uncharacteristic display of humanity exhaled, and rubbed the bridge of his nose as his team stood before him, "How fares the Avalon?"

"The damage is what it is." Kanon answered for the group, "While some of the burns are largely cosmetic, some of the interior electrical fires are of more concern. It will take time to repair,"

The report his aide de camp handed over was as expected precise, but thorough. While the Avalon was still flight capable the shields, which as it was only covered the front of the ship, were nearly inoperable. "We risk blowing the fusebox by turning them on?" He muttered more to himself. It was the kind of news that made him dread the idea of looking at the estimated cost to repair the golden ship... especially with the armed forces clamoring for more such vessels to be built. Still he needed to restore the Avalon, which most likely meant returning to California. Returning though would meant leaving Area 11, and his siblings, and weaken them against the Chinese. On the other hand with Avalon damaged and no divisions at his command he realized there was only limited support he could provide, "I don't suppose Clovis could expedite our repairs?" He shook his head, when pressed on the matter of trade secrets, "I certainly don't mind sharing the Avalon's technical specs with my little brother," Clovis most likely had started to plan the building of his own aerial ship soon after the Avalon debuted anyway. Still even if the current sub Viceroy did decide to he'd need to build a dock, and that would take time they didn't really have with regards to the Avalon. Cobbling together work wasn't really expedient though... hence California.

The answer boiled down to they could ask, but it was unlikely Clovis would be able to help in the immediate short term.

"What about Dame Alstreim?"

and the Gawain, which the Knight of the Round had appropriated in all but name, "The Emperor has made his orders clear... she will remain, and likely continue to utilize the Gawain." He flipped a page and spared a look at the cost estimates for the Avalon... maybe she could pick up the maintenance costs for the Gawain. "I suppose we'll just have to keep up efforts on it until she makes her intentions known. Gentlemen for the moment we should accept that for the time being we'll remain in Area 11, and plan accordingly."

Expediting, and fabricating, some of the parts he'd need to fix the Avalon was going to be pricy. It wasn't that Schneziel didn't have the money but still warships were expensive... especially private ones. Schneziel could already imagine Lelouch, at least as the businessman, was already apoletic over the damage done by the 'weekend war'. The prime minister didn't even consider himself particularly miserly and the prospect was already dreading paying for, he couldn't imagine how Lelouch felt about the prospect.

"With your duties as prime minister that may be a problem, especially with regards to the ongoing European engagement in Africa," Kanon pointed out, which in theory was probably true on paper. Britannia however had a very convoluted government. The Emperor could do whatever he wanted. Charles from a bureaucratic standpoint was far from incompetent... when he chose to actually do work. "We also need to consider that there are various research concerns we are obligated to participate in within the Empire."

Schneziel himself wasn't an engineer or scientist by trade, but he managed plenty of investments and funded an extensive number of development firms. Firms which were in turn often engaged in military research for the betterment of Britannia. Some of this was often funneled to support Cornelia's personal forces. All of it however meant there was a great deal of expectation placed on his programs... especially with the scrutiny his Avalon was going to be under. IF Britannia escalated the conflict with the EU, or worse got into a land war in Asia ... well the consequences would be severe.

He looked out over the city that had been built in Tokyo. When he'd made a flight over Tokyo on the return from Kanajime he'd seen the Ghetto outside the settlement. In the aftermath of the Britannian invasion Japan's economy had had its legs cut out from under it. Britannians had moved into some of the cities, but Britannia had been interested mostly in securing Sakuradite. Some other pre war industries had survived but only a few, and Britannia itself had encouraged some degree of colonial tourism, but Area 11 colonial focus had been Sakuradite. The Tokyo settlement attracted Britannians of all walks of life, but not nearly enough to replace all the Japanese who before the war had lived there. So the getto existed. It was the ossified remains of a metropolis that had perhaps at its height held perhaps ten, or even twelve million souls. That blight of an outer shell was like a dark shadow to the Britanians who lived in Tokyo, and a place of knightmares to them, and even to those who didn't even live in the Area. Even as Prime Minister Schneziel did have the pull to do anything about the ghetto. Officially it was supposed to be the Viceroy, but no one was going to spend that kind of money. Not Clovis, and certainly not Cornelia.

Yet allowing such a dangerous place to exist on the fringe of what should have been there most secure enclave seemed foolish. Tokyo was the capital of Area 11. Whilst it might not have been the base of such major groups as the JLF, Schneziel didn't even begin to ponder how many attacks had been planned and executed from within the Tokyo ghetto. Still given the resurfacing of the JLF they might well need to be the more pressing focus. Heroically coming from nowhere to join in securing victory against the Chinese was a propaganda coup. Regardless of how Diethard, and to a lesser extent other Britannia news services, tried to spin it their return had to some extent upstaged Lelouch and his Black Knights.

"Is there something wrong your highness?"

Schneziel couldn't physically see the urban blight that was the ghetto, but he still knew that it was there. "I'm going to need to speak with both the Viceroy, and sub viceroys regarding the ghetto and attendant security concerns. Please schedule that at first available convenience Kanon." He responded turning away from the massive window.

-scene break-

In a world with three superpowers it was very easy to forget all the little countries, and even easier for freedom fighters to drop back below the head lines. It was the flaw of arrogance amongt influential nation states to barely looked beyond their yards, and at the neighbors they were competing with. The superpowers focused on their own enrichment, and then towards weakening their opposites, and then to whatever other goals they had in mind.

To that end the Chinese Federation had gladly supplied weapons and equipment to plenty of groups regardless of political affiliation so long as it was far enough away from the Chinese heartland. Illict arms trade was profitable also. The home grown Japanese military small arms industry that had existed before the war was wholly insufficent. The nambu just didn't penetrate the increasingly available Britannian 'combat armor carrier's' plate. It left the three superpowers as the only real option for new better firearms.

Yojimbo, which was an assumed name, preferred using Britannian weapons. It was a logistical preference really as it was much easier to get ammo or replacement parts from occupiers. This preference didn't stop him from utilizing Chinese weapons though particularly their compact bullpups to outfit his guys.

"Not exactly a friendly welcome," The Istavaanian officer remarked.

The Japanese Freedom Fighter smiled, "I apologize for the inconvience, but I thought it was wise precaution given the sensitive nature of this."

"And what is that?" The officer asked pointedly.

He didn't immediately respond, "You are a Colonel within the Black Knights yes?" With confirmation he continued, "I understand that that captured during the recent conflict were large quantities of Chinese equipment." He held up his hands in a distinctly Britannian gesture to assuage the officer, "What I am saying is I would like to trade. The Black Knights are still hostile to the Black Dragon Society yes?"

The tension in the room increased a hundred fold, as the Black Knights almost collectively inhaled at the last four words. When Japan had been invaded and then swiftly surrendered Kyoto had been able to establish wide control over most resistance groups. The great houses had managed to keep Japan together from behind the shadows. The JLF might have been the largest group of Japanese military survivors who resisted Britannian, but they were far from the only ones. There were plenty of groups with whom Lt Colonel Kusakabe would have fit right in with, but imagine an organization comprised entirely of people of that particular militarist bent... or worse even.

The man who called himself Yojimbo looked around, "I see I have your attention. According to urban legend the Black Knights have kill on sight orders for known members of Kokuryū. I wish to trade proof that General Sousuke Uchiwa is alive, and information of his movements."

"In exchange for what?"

"The Chinese equipment of course, after all you're not likely to use it. Let me take it off your hands, and in return you can have all of my information on your enemies." Yojimbo reached down for the locked stainless steel box, "I'm not asking for your knightmares, but this list of needs of mine is relatively expansive. I also wish to encourage to move quickly as in the wake of the recent conflict the Kokuryūkai seem to be planning an attack on Tokyo."

-scene break-

"Kallen," The red head groaned as she fumbled with the phone, "Did you hear anything I said?" The agitated prince demanded from the other end.

She groaned, "No, its like four am Lelouch." The knightmare pilot responded sparing a glance at the bedside clock, which in red LED placed the time an hour before dawn, "Hold on," Kallen might have hated her, evil socialiate, bitch of stepmother, and barely got to see her father, but the Stadtfeld estate had amenities you just didn't get anywhere else. Her bed was the best thing ever when you were exhausted. She turned on the bed side lamp, "Ok what is it?"

"I said I have Rakshata working to complete maintenance to the Gurren," Lelouch stated, an evident tinge of irritation clearly present. "I will be transferring it and an associated contingent to defend Ashford Academy. This will be include security forces."

She hobbled sleepily out of bed, "How much coffee have you had?" The red asked head to the mahogany armoire that had been brought over from the homeland... it had been her grandmother's or one of them. One of her armoires, it had belonged to her father's mother. "Couldn't this wait until morning, why do I have to get up for this?"

"Kallen JCFIR sent out priority recall, and activation notices two hours ago." He responded from the other end of the phone, "My plane touches down at Tokyo international inside of the next two hours."

That kind of explained the background noise she noticed now that she was up and alert. Kallen rifled around her nightstand for the 'pager' she'd been given when they'd first gotten word about the potential for a Chinese invasion... yep there were a couple messages... oops. "Ok and uh what are we doing? Are the Chinese invading again?"

"I will explain everything just go to Ashford, and wear something professional we're probably going to have to meet up with the Viceroy too." While Kallen stared across the pitch black grounds of the immaculately maintained Stadtfeld residence on the other end of the line Lelouch stared up at the rows of palletized weapons. "I'll see you later," He finished weakly and clicked the phone off. Most of these weapons would be staying where they were.

A familiar HAG officer cleared his throat, "The plane is fueled sir,"

The meeting with the viceroy ended up getting pushed back, and Clovis had vocally complained about having to get up at seven to get ready. "You weren't doing anything anyway."  
"I was sleeping," The blonde prince protested, "I mean whats this about anyway. Lelouch got on a red eye flight to come down here surely he could have waited till morning. Couldn't you have taken a later flight?"

Lelouch who was presently hunched over a computer barely glanced up, "I did consider coming over with some of our heavier equipment." He commented snidely as the lights dimmed and the projector started.

"Is that who I think it is, your highness?" It was Jeremiah who spoke up first as the pixels solidified into a Japanese face.

Lelouch glanced at the projected image, grimaced bent down and hit a key. A second later the handful of pictures were side by side with pre war, Britannian, Military Intelligence photos of Japanese officers. "Yes it is." The Kurrugi government had been a unity administration, but only barely. Genbu Kurrugi's party had made signicant election gains and barely needed the support of the other parties at the end. Part of that was the strength of the plutocrats, and zaibatsu which backed him up. Militarism had been a secondary plank. "When the Kurrugi government surrendered Japan's military largely evaporated over the next few weeks. Britannia's navy had already largely annhilated the Japanese fleet, and air power was capable of projecting far into the interior of the Kanto block. What was left of the ground forces formed groups like the JLF, but existing militarist were able to supply arms to already extant ultranationlists. This is General Sousuke Uchiwa formerly the head of Japanese Military Intelligence." Lelouch's eyes closed briefly, and in a quiet tone continued, "He is the subject of a Black Knights' kill on sight order."

"Say what?" Clovis exclaimed, "Uh ok. Thats-" It wasn't just Clovis... his other two siblings took note of the rather severe sounding proclamation with interest.

The dark haired prince made a face, and Clovis gestured for him to continue, and Lelouch let the other shoe drop. "We have credible intelligence courtesy of the Istavaanian faction that there is an imminent attack planned on the Tokyo settlement." It wasn't like there hadn't been threats against Tokyo before, but now...

"Its the timing isn't it," Schneziel remarked tersely, "So the question regarding this becomes are they collaborating with the Chinese, or more likely simply offended by all this success of late that is not their own?"

"I don't know."

-scene break-


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

-scene break-

Jeremiah Gottwald would have normally been in a very good mood. Any man who commanded a knightmare squadron would have given some of the individual After Action Reports. Whilst the Invasion of Kyushu had accrued many casualties the combat experience had created dozens of new aces. That should have left him chipper for weeks to come... but bad news knew no brakes as it were.

The sum cost in men and lives to reclaim, and hold that damned island were one thing, but the idea of a pending uprising in force was like being sucker punched. It didn't help his mood that any idea to create for Lelouch a Royal Guard, even if it had been at Princess Cornelia's behest, were no doubt pretty much sidelined for the immediate future. The price of lives for holding the ground beneath their feet looked like it was going to run high.

"Whats our status?" He asked, it was a small mercy Cornelia was in charge. The 2nd Princess was unlike his highness Prince Clovis, there would be no caving to political pressure from the nobility about the allocation of resources. Right now there resources were far thinner than anyone would have liked.

A beige folder was handed over marked with the Seal of the Royal Britannian Navy Pacific Fleet Command, which was nominally was based in California. "Current evidence suggest extensive Russian and Chinese Naval activity. The posturing of the Chinese within the Yellow sea, and increased confrontational movements by the air force has markedly risen since the invasion." Viletta read off the summary note that had accompanied it. "Will they try again?"

"I should think not," Jeremiah replied, before continuing, "The bastards are probably sore about it, just like the rest of us." He snorted, "Can you also page the support staff, I'd like the latest check on the refits of the third Siegfried?"

Viletta picked up the phone, and dialed the operator whilst Jeremiah kept reading. It would take a minute to connect the line to Clovis's secure lab complex nestled in Shinigawa just along the Tokyo bay. Its position allowed it to not simply receive supplies brought in from the sea quickly, but allowed Clovis to visit the site with comparative ease, and with minimal risk. On the other hand Clovis had put the campus inside the city limits of the Tokyo Concession, which was dangerous, and risky for both the prince and his project if some one wanted to dare. The problem being the newly highlighted threat. If an attack really was imminent on Tokyo going after the sub viceroy and his lab would be an appealing target.

Jeremiah knew it, after all Prince Clovis had never been particularly martial. He was thus all the more simpler a target. After all the viceroy had her own royal guard and her Glaston Knights to supplement those... never mind whatever additional military were available. Then again on the other hand there were worries about the other sub viceroy being a target. The idea of an attack that could come at any minute without any definitive idea of what the target was ... worried him. "His highness is wearing a low visibilty plate carrier," Jeremiah remarked abruptly to Viletta, who looked up.

"Sir?"

Jeremiah grimaced, the prince shouldn't have faced such threats. "Prince Lelouch," He paused, "Well he's wearing body armor." The tone of his declaration left it clear that the very notion Lelouch felt the need to wear armor was appalling. "You should start wearing a set," He added a bit more authoritatively, while musing to himself he should take his own advice as he looked over the skyline. Before this had all started Jeremiah had been looking forward to quietly making rank over the next few years, and while he was certain he had another promotion in the next year in the pipe... he wondered if it was going to be worth it.

-scene break-

As Viceroy, Cornelia li Britannia had taken over numerous tasks from Clovis. Unlike Clovis though she had little interest in coddling the corrupt, and bloated twittering mass of minor nobility who had grown fat off of Clovis's largess. It was true that she had delegated some of the position's tasks back to Clovis, and some to give Euphemia a taste of the experience of managing the area, but final authority rested with her. It was here at the center of power in Area 11 she should have been absolute in her authority, and yet...

It was a small miracle... no that wasn't the right way of putting it... it had taken an impending crisis to get Lelouch to come out of his mountainous hideaway. On top of which Clovis, and Euphemia both still more or less ignored her on whim. Then there was Schneziel's whose presence was proving to be a mixed blessing. In the homeland the Emperor's shadow was too vast, no matter how many of his children were about did it matter... here in a distant area...

Here in Area 11 there were too many members of Britannia's ruling house. If it had just been Cornelia and Clovis that would have been one thing, but Schneziel was Prime Minister. That fact alone opened a whole new can of worms, and that would have been true even before the Chinese attack. Add Lelouch and his knights into that... it was too easy for the nobles to scurry around trying to curry favor with different royals for their own ends. "Where is Lelouch?" She demanded abruptly to her knight, who was paging through his own set of reports.

"I cannot honestly say, my lady." Then after a moments pause, "Ashford perhaps?"  
The second princess snorted, it seemed unlikely given the situation, but she turned to Clovis who must have heard the question, "If not his townhouse, and not Ashford there is all that equipment they brought," The blonde prince remarked. The simple reality was ... well things were a mess Clovis mused wistfully before shrugging, and snatching a seat unbidden, "I couldn't say for sure, but-"

"Unloading the equipment then," Cornelia interjects snappishly, "Now is hardly the time to be dawdling about at home, it wouldn't be like Lelouch." Or rather it would be more like Clovis to do that later she thinks... she berates her brother as such when questioned, before moving on, "What I wanted you here for is to help mitigate some of the concerns over the Black Knights, since you seem to have so much free time it should be your priority focus to assuage some of the concerns raised. They are a knightly order," which if nobles could cobble together knights then Lelouch as a prince certainly could... of course there was the whole question of size... and vigilantism, but with luck Clovis could play that off as boys would be boys... "Do something about it." It wasn't entirely altruism of course... the Black Knight's numbers were less likely to get shot at in the ghetto then the colonial troops.

Clovis looks to protest, but a glare quiets him... Cornelia imagines that he'll probably sulk over it... but he'll probably do it. Even if he does whine about it, petulant as that would be, to Schneziel she imagines their older brother will tell him to do it. Hopefully... thats the problem Schneziel tends to be unpredictable...

-scene break-

Lelouch's attention was consumed with micromanaging things. There had always been Black Knight forces in Tokyo, of course, but the current situation was well past a step beyond that... and all told perhaps the surface to air missiles might be a bit much, but Lelouch wishes to take no chances. In part its paranoia the idea of being outed publicly had been something he'd been preparing for... but for Sawasaki to do it during a campaign... he never saw that coming... and its bugging him. Thats just the simplest way to put things... and well the emergence of old enemies was doing nothing to calm him... on the other hand Cornelia's offer, concession as some of the more stiff Britannians, of allowing open Black Knight forces inside the settlement had immeasurable PR benefits. There were risks of course of deploying uniformed Black Knights of course, but being able to show themselves in public with out nigh overwhelming force on standby at the least. Of course it didn't help, making these decisions, he had a splitting pain emanating from some dark invisible place behind his eye... at least it, the eye, wasn't bleeding though. Right now there was too much at stake to try and have to justify fighting off a medical relief order... or an attempt at one as things happened.

"The Austral Realm docked six hours ago," A lieutenant announced, which mean the large capacity palletized cargo ship was only just now beginning the offload process. The original intention of course of the cargo had been to reinforce their forces ahead of the Chinese invasion... now it was to reinforce their position after the damage done by the Chinese. "Are there any special orders?"

With a sharp exhale Lelouch rotated the chair, "Relay the task to de Silva," and what should have been unnecessary proceed to add, "but tell them to keep a low profile..." Risking an attack on a cargo ship was... well could be potentially problematic, especially given it had only been a last minute decision to redirect the ship to Tokyo bay. It was the kind of thing he was conflicted about... still if this attack is anything like he fears well it would take much for the civilian casualties to be in the thousands... even tens of thousands and that could just be in the span of under and hour of active operations. Clovis, or Euphemia are the more likely targets to be honest, but there are others... and its unfortunate to say that Ashford is on the short list and for that he's tempted to take additional precautions... still the information acquired from 'Yojimbo' spoke of intent to attack Britannian interests and the collaborator government... defending major transit hubs was always a problem... still he kind of doubts the ferry system in Tokyo bay is the target... trains on the other hand... well the Society always did like attacking them. Even with the increased security over the years that seems like something they wouldn't need to put notice out for... even if Kyoto's cooperation, regarding the Kyushu invasion, had fostered a not insubstantial amount of ill will amongst the hardliners.

Its likely part recruitment ploy, Lelouch muses to himself... before abruptly glancing, glaring really, at his suddenly ringing cellphone. He has half a mind to ignore it, but Cornelia has been getting increasingly irritated over his lack of answering... even though most of the time while in Hokkaido he simply didn't keep it with him... there are afterall security protocols to follow. With a groan he makes up his mind and picks it up.

Cornelia turns out to be irate either way, "Where are you?" Is the Viceroy's initial abrupt demand, and its followed by an extremely curt series of badgering questions that more or less boil down to how fast can you come to the palace... and such. "Of course its important," She replies moodily to his answers, "it concerns consolidation training," which all things considered is probably not something to be discussing over an open line so Cornelia isn't going to elaborate.

In hindsight it makes sense that Cornelia would have increased security presence on the docks and in particular watch any movements in force. No doubt one of Knights had run the register for the Austral Realm when it had come in this morning, or not long after, and decided to snoop about once they started unloading... and probably immediately phoned the viceroy over his suspicions... at least Lelouch assumed it had been a he... Dames were not uncommon after all. "I will be there forthwith Cornelia," Just as soon as he wrapped up what he was doing, but she didn't need to be told that, or that he was about to hang up for that matter. He casts an eye around the warehouse... maybe the surface to air missiles are a bit much, but better to be safe than sorry.

-scene break-

Marianne vi Britannia understands better than most what her children are going through; Cornelia, Euphemia, Clovis, and even Schneziel are all included in this count. She does really, the stress in particular, she thinks, is really starting to wear... the knight of the round figures she will mention it to Charles on their next personal chat... after all it would be unprofessional to bring it up in an official report. Speaking of offical capacity the Gawain is proving to be an absolute dream. As it happens she keeps meaning to thank Schneziel for the use of the war machine, but it ends up inevitably slipping her mind in the face of all the work. At the moment of course that work is mainly tweaking the Gawain.

"The Black Knights have unloaded the Gurren,"

Ah the red close quarters combat machine... that would be fun to pilot too. Unfortunately Marianne had her doubts that she was going to get the chance... as it was she could only remain in control of Anya's body for so long after all... so that chance definitely wouldn't be today. The knight of the round gave a wistful sigh, "Will they be testing it out any time soon?"

"Its unknown at the moment mi'lady." The military intelligence officer responded blankly, which made sense it wasn't like the band of merry men had put out a party schedule.

Marianne stretches, Anya will reassert control of this body soon she can feel it, but there is still work to be done, "I see, and what about Cornelia? Or Schneziel?"

The man shifts a bit at this, "The second princess is drafting several policies, which maybe bad precedent for operations inside the Area." Which really isn't the Knight of the Round's problem, and certainly not at the moment, "As for the Prime Minister..."

"Well... spit out."

The officer shifted... and Marianne's facial expression tightened, "The second prince has disappeared it seems... given the Avalon's still grounded we're unsure where he could have disappeared to." It wasn't impossible of course, Marianne knew, that Schneziel might have had facilities off the books like Clovis or Lelouch beyond the Tokyo Settlement but still within reasonable travel distance.

"Well? What are you waiting for, go find him." With the spook hastily beating a path for the door to carry out the order Marianne was left alone with her approrpiated knightmare. If she thought she would have enough time now would have been a great time for taking it up for a sping, but she didn't... and the last thing she needed was to revert while pulling a 10g turn while wrong side up... she had learned that lesson the hard way... its the kind of thing she prefers avoiding the risk of repeating.

Still Schneziel going off the beaten path was the kind of thing one needed to be concerned about given the threat they were supposed to be facing... not that Charles had had any idea about that... she was going to need to report that as well. Anya woke up to sitting in the cockpit of the Gawain... alone and empty in the maintenance hangar with just her and the war machine.

-scene break-

It didn't take long for various people to catch on to the changes. No one told the public at large of course the reasons, but every spy regardless of who, or what faction they might have represented noticed the subtle shift towards prickliness. The occasional astute civilian noticed that the so called Black Knight's 'street friars', who were speaking out or handing out fliers, or literature for the organization, now had more noticeable minders. That was to say people rather than Britanian police services there were a growing presence of Black Knights in the settlement... and in the ghetto as well... but that was meant to keep a wary eye out... a kind of tripwire.

The settlement though received all attention as far as the public was concerned. "oh I hope Lulu is alright," Shirley declared to the others, as they walked around. "I mean this is just crazy." Shirley's opinion on the insanity that had set in after the so called Weekend War wasn't unique. It had all but consumed Ashford's student body... and the gossip rags of Area 11 for that matter.

Rivalz was just about to say something in response when the bomb went off down the block at the corner of the street. Technicians from the forensics would remark it was amazing that it even managed to go off at all, but that was beside the point... and was well and after the fact. So instead of commenting Rivalz and the crowds screamed and followed a panicked shuffling.

The Tokyo concession was not unknown to bombings from time, though the surrounding settlements were more used to them in years past. Attacks had happened throughout the year, so Britannian security forces reacted in what was largely rote performances of their assignments for post attack investigation. The area was cordoned off, and evidence collected... and of course the injured were trucked off to the Metro hospital for care... and the bodies taken to the morgue.

"Was-"

"Not them," Lelouch responded as he pieced over the photos... as no one was going to allow him anywhere near the scene of the blast. The Kokuryū's core was made of former members of the Japanese Military Intelligence this was... too plain... to be them. Bombings in Area 11 mostly relied on stolen mining explosives, or even explosives utilized in construction work, with the occasional stolen or smuggled military hardware. Primarily though the bulk of such explosives originated from the sakuradite mining operations... sometimes even utilizing sakuradite itself for the bombs... though that was rare... and considered wasteful given the smuggling value of sakuradite.

Clovis, who knew nothing of the specifics, looked surprised, "You're, you're sure Lelouch I mean perhaps all of it was bluster, and we can relax."

"No this bomb was concocted by someone who doesn't make them, who works with electronics and timers, and such... but not bombs." Jeremiah declared, because while it had gone off it could just have easily fizzled... and even though the tanks had blown up it hadn't been in open air rather than somewhere packed with people. All in all it could have been much worse was the general agreement... not that that brought any of the dead back to life.

The problem of course with Jeremiah's little declaration was the abundance of technology. Creating a list of suspects might entail assuming a disgruntled 11 who had access to the settlement, but even that wasn't a guaranteed fact given the lack information. Still that was the general assumption, but there were few hard facts to present to Cornelia.

-scene break-

There wasn't much left to do about the bombing from the Ashford, academy, perspective. A curfew had already been in place for dorm students, and that was on top of the one mandated by the Office of the Viceroy. Dozens of concerned parents had of course raised all manner of concerns, but for little actually accomplished. So student life, schools, and dances and what not continued for Ashford academy, and the Student Council continued to meet in their usual spot.

"Lelouch should do something," Euphemia declared to a more or less helpless Suzaku, as she echoed Nunally's sentiment from earlier. By and large Ashford had seemingly traded one prince for an extra princess, and that was more accurate than the student council liked to admit.

A part of this also meant accepting a substantially more overbearing prescence by Cornelia's Glaston Knights who of course supposed to be protecting Euphemia... not that Lelouch had been devoid of armed protection in the last few months either, but well the Glaston arrival just after their return from Kyushu came with consequences that couldn't be avoided. It didn't help Euphemia was adept at ditching her escorts, though at least she had of late been sticking... or rather dragging Suzaku along with her on her unauthorized excursions.

Millie's own life had taken a shift in its own direction, in part because of what she suspected were either parts, or capital... or both... supplied to her grandfather so that the Ashford's could open their own factory in Area 11. It would help to revitalize the family fortune, but Lelouch's hand in the matter was irritating... and on the other hand... "Our Dark Prince can hardly be expected able to fix everything now can he," She remarked.

Suzaku in his typical manner for these kind of social exchanges said little, and shuffled his feet uncomfortably... while Lelouch doing something was desirable... he still wasn't quite sure how all of this should fit together in his idealized reality of the law, and society... so he kept quiet. The radical Black Knights had carried out their own bombings in the past, and Lelouch had after all done little to reign them in months ago... and in the wake of Kyushu was unlikely to try and enact repercussions for those attacks either. So Suzaku was more than a little conflicted, especially given his sneaking suspicions Lelouch wasn't entirely being level with what was going on with things... but there was no helping that.

"Suzaku," Euphemia repeated more insistently this time.

The Knight of Honor all but jumped out of his, "Ah I'm sorry your highness- Eupehmia I was lost in thought there for a minute..." He trailed off looking around, as one the younger Glaston Knights stifled a laugh. Only to be shushed at by the pink princess.

"Its fine Suzaku I just wanted to hear what you thought about things," She shrugged, and Suzaku slowly retook his seat... resisting the urge to rub his knee from where he' struck it on the table. "I do think Cornelia, and Lelouch should keep up with us more." She reiterated.

-scene break-

The street bombing as far as numbers went had only killed a few people... but it reiterated the weakness in security that existed in the Tokyo concession... and it gave the news outlets something else to talk about. The other part of it was that... well responsibility for the attack itself was still unclaimed... even though there were probably dozens of groups who could have carried it out... not one of them had stepped forward. Cornelia recognized the signs of institutional paranoia in Lelouch better than most, and even if she hadn't Schneziel would have. "You think it was probing,"

"I think they put someone up to it to measure how we'd respond." He replied as they sat at table laid out in one of the hangars. Meeting here was less likely to draw the attention of the press, and that was especially true with Clovis at the Palace. It was amazing how after Kyushu 'we' suddenly meant both the Black Knights and the Colonial Government. Then again after Kyushu the whole area was shaken up, "On the plus side at least the Austral Realm had spare parts for Sutherland frames,"

Cornelia snorted, "Yes, and not all I happened to hear about. More of your European Frames as I understand it?"

"We were under the impression things were going to be messy," and they had, but the JLF miraculously returning was good short term... not so good long term. The Warlocks, and Edinburghs were both effective designs were widely lauded in use... there were concerns. "We suspended development of our Assault frames most of the programs simply were too heavy," Lelouch admitted, never mind maintenance requirements. The 541 was too long, and complicated to parse down for real production even with a slimmed down 541b model removing some of the guns... so it had been canceled in favor of another design which had in turn been mothballed months later. "It was easier just to build the Oni, or for that matter our 'European frames'. A update program for the Archer is being discussed..." But the new RAI 01b Dudley, and proposed further modifications for mass production had significant traction as well in committee.

"The assault frames were useful in battle against the Chinese,"

Lelouch nodded, "And more than half are inoperable right now. I don't have the spare parts or the machine lines set up to bring them all back into service..." Even if that was economically feasible at the moment, "The Realm's frames will help, but Kyushu's losses in material, and manpower require me to dramatically restructure my forces ahead of schedule."

"And the other spare parts?"  
"Will be delivered for your units as agreed, Cornelia." An attack against Hokkaido was militarily unfeasible, one against Tokyo wasn't... so reinforcing their weakness here made sense. He glanced up the large purple warmachine that was Cornelia's personal frame, "The servos are easy to replace we'll have it fully ready by tonight."

She nodded, "That will be excellent, I understand you brought surface to air missiles."

"Admittedly the auto cannons might be slightly more useful in our current predicament," He conceded, though given the lack of information the nature of the attack was still illusive. Still better to take precautions. "I'll rearm what I can of your forces."

"Clovis will need help bringing his own factory on line, you understand that right?"

"Yes," Lelouch crossed his arms... the problem was always potent that while there was the chance and the imperative thus to keep knightmares on ready alert, that the attack might not be with knightmares... assymetric warfare. "This is what the Istavaanians were meant for, fighting an enemy who attacked us. The Istavaanians were formed in response to the threat of the Kokuryūkai, and they're in part why the HAG is so large compared to our other garrisons." Never mind why there were other independent guard units stationed there.

"You're telling me not to underestimate the elevens." She muttered with some degree of irritation tinging her voice.

"These people are like an entire organization of Kusakabe," Bringing up the Lt Colonel was designed to elicit a response as much as it was true, "except..." so much... "smarter. They don't have the emphasis on knightmares that the JLF did, but I expect they'll have them," especially after the last few years, "and Raikou, or equivalents in particular."

It was Cornelia's turn to grimace, remembering the attack on the G1 base months prior. The cobbled together Raikous had their niche, but the retrofitted Glasgows, or Burais, that served as their base were another danger. Of course as stand alones their melee ability suffered, but the linear cannons were a dangerous addition to any knightmare. The again the Japanese were fielding increasing numbers of their own knightmares with melee capacity in mind, but then that was with the support of Kyoto.

Kyoto might have been having problems, but they weren't about to turn around back these people... hopefully... hopefully it hadn't gotten that bad. Lelouch mused to himself. If Kyoto, even a splinter group, did supply the likes of the Kokuryu things were going to get very bad... very fast. Cornelia would not be the only one worried about Raikou.

"So why haven't you killed them all?"

Typical blunt Cornelia... Lelouch almost wanted to laugh, "You don't think I want to? Or that I've tried? Its much harder than you'd think." It didn't matter how much good was done in the ghettos people weren't going to turn out their own bad elements easily. It was why they had to take other efforts in concert with social outreach programs... and why Clovis had been allowed to run amok without anything being actually done. Clovis's frequent temper tantrums were exploitable... it was as simple as that. Unfortunately with the situation after Cornelia had taken over things weren't that simple anymore. "Protecting Hokkaido took precedence most of all I suppose." Going in too far south would have not only have overstretched their limits, and amongst other things would have gotten them entangled with the wider colonial administration... and that would have been a problem. "Area 11 is going through many changes..." far faster than he would have liked... honestly... "And the Kokuryu popping back up was not something I was looking forward to in the yuletide season."

"Well they're here, and I want you to come clean on this."

He tilted his head in a shrug, "Its not like that,"

"It seems like that," The viceroy responded, "Regardless I'll settle for reinforcements for now. You drill the Concession Security Forces on whatever they need to know when dealing with these rebellious upstarts." Lelouch gave another shrug in response. "I mean it Lelouch, and I will need another tour of Hokkaido."

"Armor production isn't generally in your list of interests."

"Thats not what I meant, but for the moment we need to focus on the task at hand."

The bombing... what was probably just the start of the coming storm.

-scene break-


	3. Chapter 3 Prelude Movement

Chapter 3

Helltanz's Notes: We're back.

-scene break-

Lelouch swallowed a mouthful of water to go along with his aspirin, before leaving the glass on the counter top, and looking out the window... to its view of the Tokyo skyline... of the Britannian Settlement in the morning. Euphemia had no idea what it really took to maintain this, Clovis for all the impression he gave of ignorance did actually have a clue at least. Still Euphemia's ignorance, and Clovis's tendency towards foppishness were excused by their royal blood... well most of the time. Cornelia had her own quirks as well... for that matter they all did... and that was what worried Lelouch. His intelligence had after all been wrong... the Chinese Baryon cannons, that was nerve wracking... and then there was the presence of the knight of the rounds.

Cornelia made her entrance with little attempt at being discrete, "You made sure to mention that the former head of the Japanese Military Intelligence was subject to an execution order. Why?"

"Why did I mention it? Or Why is there a kill on sight order?" Lelouch responded to the inquiry nostrils flaring, "And why would you ask that now?"

Her eyes narrowed, "You brought surface to air missiles into the settlement. I asked once why you haven't killed them all, but why point out this one specifically."

"To have killed you mean?" Lelouch continued to start at the Tokyo skyline, "What do you see, Cornelia? When you look out over Tokyo? Over any city in Japan? I told you the other day, protecting Hokkaido took precedence." This city... Clovis had only come to be viceroy after things had calmed down... beyond the Fuji mines, and Kyoto, and the centers of Britannian influence there had been ... a hurricane... day to day living... a tumult, chaos, sporadic bursts of street to street fighting."To collaborate with the invaders, it was something the Kokuryo considered," Likely continued to consider unforgivable, but they were more pragmatic than Kusakabe had ever been, even if they had refused to subordinate themselves to Kyoto, "it to be unforgivable... these bombings are probing attacks. Sousuke Uchiwa, or one of his lieutenants, are known for them... because they were used to kill people in Hokkaido." The cities of Japan were a facade, a mask over a conflict that hadn't ended with the war, but discussing that with Cornelia would them nowhere, "Our origins are bleak, ash coated things."

"That doesn't tell why the death-"

"Doesn't it," Lelouch turned away from the window abruptly, "Sousuke Uchiwa isn't unique in being subject to a kill on sight order." The truth was... that while most Japanese who had heard it dismissed it as mere rumor... or exaggeration... "That order extends to the whole Society of the Black Dragon. It was why we founded the Istavaanians to root them out, and stop the threat to our people in Japan."

Cornelia recognized when she wasn't going to get anywhere... whatever Lelouch didn't want to admit was more than just a spate of bombings in the chaos of post invasion Japan. There wasn't likely to be much evidence... searching through the news archives, even if that had been something Cornelia did, wouldn't likely help. Pushing it wouldn't help, it bothered Lelouch enough for him to be verbally combative which said enough in its own right, "If its that severe will it complicate coordination of the defense?"

"Japan is a country of mountains." Lelouch replied. The Hidaka mountains, and others in Hokkaido were bunker like complexes concealing things beyond Sakuradite mines, "There are shelters in place to protect Hokkaido, our production facilities are hardened against enemy attack, and so to are our transport hubs." Admittedly part of that had been footed on Britannia's dime, but largely from illicit sakuradite mining in the early years. "The Kokuryu are unlikely to attack Hokkaido, so no those forces I can commit to here, are here for that purpose alone."

Cornelia frowned, "Do you mean to defend Tokyo or to kill these upstarts." When no answer was forthcoming she snorted, and shook her head, letting the matter drop. "How do you suggest we stop the bombings then?"

"Hokkaido cannot be attacked because the stringency of our internal security, that isn't feasible in Tokyo." Lelouch commented... though in part that surveillance and affirmative border defense, and also to some degree exaggeration of their own ability.

The Viceroy glowered in response, "I asked how we would stop these ants scurrying around, not why not, Lelouch."

"The Tokyo Ghetto are a vast area, never mind the underground network," Both the original Japanese one or the modern Britannian system, which had been put in piecemeal, "The Society targets all parts of the regime, foreigners of all stripes, in addition to collaborators. Either you conform to their idea of being Japanese is, or you die." A goal that they were fulling willing to give their lives to accomplish when they fought which was the problem. "The honorary Britannians are just as much targets as they are potential points of insert for any attack. The Kokuryu will make use of coercion to implement attacks, both as diversion, and direct action to advance their goals." The problem was while an attack on industry or command and control were more likely... the subway system and commercial districts were very vulnerable to attack.

"So why the SAMs then,"

Lelouch bit his tongue, grinding down on his teeth, "The Kokuryu at one point," He stressed the words, "had Japanese ground attack aircraft." It was unlikely of course that such planes were operational, after so many years, but they could fly low enough to avoid radar systems that weren't actively tracking for such types of threats. The more pressing fear was that... given Kyoto had been able to bankroll the Gurren, and that illict sakuradite trading was a lucrative enterprise that they might have purchased VTOL systems... French or Italian had platforms that were low weight enough to be moved around semi easily at least.

-scene break-

There was more to modern war than just knightmares. Preparations were nigh all important, and it was best if from time to time that lesson was refreshed. It was why instead of rows of small arms the tables were filled with television screens and computers. Yes guns had played a part in stamping out terrorist attacks in Hokkaido but it had been more than that.

Chiba glanced around the room, as the various Black Knight Security Forces from individual factions clamored about. She recognized the mark of the Istavaanians and of course the Thorian hammer, and even their fellow Puritan Ardenites, but not the others. It had been Istavaanian and Thorians that had mainly fought on Kyushu's soil. Now though there were others... the Ordo Minoris was a term she had heard remarked from one of the officers.

"There must be other sites like this," Her fellow Holy Sword remarked looking around, "They seem to have been installing cameras throughout various places in the city." That was all well and good for locations within the comfort of the Settlement where electricity flowed freely, and infrastructure was well maintained, but the ghetto would be an entirely different animal.

"Certainly so," Lelouch declared having slipped into their midst like a ghost. The reality of most of this would be intelligence worth because if it came to open fighting then they would have well and truly screwed up somewhere. "having this come down to knightmares would be unfortunate for us, it would mean we failed to prevent it from coming to that. There is a briefing starting regarding that eventuality though," The dark prince gestured them towards one of the doorways, and towards another repurposed warehouse...

It was a spartan layout an inside, with an abundance of folding chairs, and a projector pointed towards one of the walls. Rakshata was waiting, "The Gurren is combat ready," She declared brusquely as more people began filtering in filling the mostly empty space with hundreds of boots scuffing on hard concrete.

Knightmare combat was evolving. While active based defense systems, and improvements to traditional passive systems like conventional armor, had been improving all the time no one had been prepared for such a string of adaptive changes. While active systems had dramatically increased the durability of top of the line units against dismounted infantry the advent of energy barrier technology rendered direct attacks by heavy ATGMs ineffectual... it did little for buildings that might be hit by stray rounds though... and Tokyo had buildings a plenty. "There in lays the issue as traditionally the Kokuryu have avoided attacks encompassing KMF equipped forces." Lelouch declared speaking into the throat mike he was wearing as the lights dimmed showing the smoking remnants of what was probably footage from some skirmish or another in one of Kyushu's towns during the invasion. Urban conflict was a reality, and was the primary reason that most knightmares didn't sortie with heavier weapons too much risk for collateral damage... or such was at least the treatise claim in both Britannian and European war colleges. "Thorian doctrine emphasizes focuses on our heavy assets, and bringing down as much concentrated firepower as possible. Obviously fighting inside of the Tokyo region against a formation who has no regard for civilian life in their engagement terms as we assume the Black Dragons will be operating presents unsuitable planning concerns." Maps appeared of the Tokyo area, "Liaising with Britannian Command is intended to allow us to deploy without being caught up in city traffic," Lines crisscrossed the city, "Teams will be assigned to separate districts, and be expected to familiarize themselves with neighboring districts to reinforce in the event of an attack, but we will be operating on the idea of a quick reaction force," That was when NCOs, and Officers started receiving papers.

In a Britannian briefing there was an inclination to show off, use lots of power point slides and demonstrations in the event it ever had to be shown to those higher up the chain... or if a general like Bartley ever happened to walk in. JLF briefings had incorporated less power point, but still did include it to an extent because it was an effective method to brief an entire squadron at one time. It was similar here, because it was the modern way something that had been propagating since before knightmares had even been deployed to the battlefield. Technology propagates like that, but teams still need solid objectives to do their jobs correctly.

For Chiba, and the Holy Swords this meant coordinating as a part of a larger Istavaanian detachment that included the Gurren near what had been Koto, and Edogawa. From the glances she'd stolen across the way it seemed the Thorians would be detached across the harbor at Ota... which probably implied that Clovis had asked for them. Supporting documents implied that Britannian forces including Cornelia's indivual command would be responsible for the central interior of the city's QRF in the event of combat. Operational Planning did not explicit mention intentions towards Okutama, though the defenses of Saitama highlighted ongoing liaising efforts with Japanese forces in the area as positive, but did not elaborate further.

-scene break-

"Working with Saitama's rebel groups is dangerous," Lelouch remarked, "Or more correctly it agitates Cornelia, and it paints a target on them,"

"From her?"

Lelouch should his head, "The dragons in this case," he replied, "It would be less trouble if they would have joined in full with the Istavaanian but joint operations is the best we can manage." He ran his hand through his hair, "How's the gurren?"

"Its not a problem," Lelouch's look was of a circumspect nature, "Its fine," The red head protested forcefully, "Rakshata did everything she could, and I'm needed here you called me at three in the morning remember?"

The scowl set in, "I'll keep that in mind, but I'd rather avoid a KMF skirmish with the Kokuryu if at all possible to begin with,"

"Why? I mean is it that big of a deal?"

"The Istavaanian were originally created to eliminate the Kokuryu, and while extensively experienced in Knightmare combat this past year, we're talking about fighting someone with comparable professional skill to the JLF." Lelouch muttered, "open fighting is contentious and simply put we need more time to work things out with those in Saitama..." because there was a very good chance with the JLF back," and there was the issue of Kyoto revitalizing the JLF too..."and the Kokuryu on the scene now there would be real competition for influence... and that would make things worse when dealing with Cornelia. "We're going to need to make more personal overtures into Saitama over the next few weeks, not simply intermittently in the coming months."

"When you say the JLF do you mean there might be issues with Kyoto as well?"

He shrugged, "More likely than not, but at the same time its the kind of issue where we're more likely to talk than end up shooting at one another," which all things considered was preferable. It wouldn't do after all to give Cornelia excuse to vent her frustrations on the National Advisory Council in this climate.

"What are we going to do about Ashford though?"

"Cornelia, Euphemia, even Clovis, and Jeremiah are all about... its a target..." whether it was sufficient as such to warrant an attack remained to be seen, but... "Precautions are in place, but those safeguards are all that we can do. If they attack... realistically explosives are a more likely choice than a knightmare assault. Clovis's parties are more likely to be targeted by armed incursion I would think, but even thats not a sure thing."

"You're a noble though, even if they don't know your a prince the student council,"

Lelouch scowled, "Yes Cornelia comes around, and the gossip twitters on," He murmured in irritation, "I've spoken with Reuben to do what we can, and realistically my identity will be compromised publicly quite soon as far as Ashford is concerned. They're not stupid, they'll connect the dots... especially with what Sawasaki said at Kyushu."

"You make it sound like we can't stop them." Kallen said through gritted teeth.

"Its not something the Gurren can fix on its own, you understand that, right?" He replied, "We'll go back to Ashford, and we'll go to class as needed, but we need to account for being ready to deploy if an attack comes. It also means we should be ready to coordinate evacuating Ashford if it comes down to that."

Kallen paused, and reached for her buzzing cellphone... from the expression Lelouch could guess that for once it wasn't her step mother calling, "its my dad... I need to take this." Lelouch nodded, and grabbed a set of papers from the table, and stepped outside of the room.

-scene break-

Lelouch let his head thump against the wall... avoiding Euphemia was a chore... and unfeasible in the long term anyway. There was also the matter of other things on top of that. Cornelia, and to a less urgent manner Schneziel too, wanted access to Hokkaido. Denying either would have been possible for longer... if Cornelia hadn't been let in before, so at some point it would have to happen... In the mean time there was another round of humanitarian aid to supervise... and more strategically construction efforts... running away loomed, but was impractical at this point... besides it wasn't like the torrent of bad news seemed inclined to let up.

The latest news had taken to confirm, but it was evident now... back during the Osaka operations it had been reasonably certain that elements within Kyoto had been funding increasingly extremist rebels group, which had been one thing. It wasn't as simple as checking financial records... Japan's underground ran off a mostly off the books informal economy. There were few computer records to trace or even know about to begin with. HUMINT was difficult to come by... and this was as close to a smoking gun as it was to get... and still not enough to go publicly with... though for that matter Lelouch wasn't sure just what caliber evidence would have to be to be worth taking public given the situation at hand.

The real question was why... Kyoto could be ignorant, but it wasn't likely. A splinter within Kyoto was more likely, but even then, the Kokuryu supporting extremists was one thing, but for both, even a splinter to support the same groups... was complicated. The fear lingered that Kirihara was being cut out from the loop... and if he was how long before Kaguya followed... after all Kirihara could be thrown under the bus as far as the public was concerned.

"You look exhausted," Schneziel declared. "Is it, that bad?"

"Its probably worse," Lelouch replied.

"We'll need to do something publicly, but at the same time," The second prince paused, "We should take care. As its said too many chefs spoil the soufflé as it were. Mr. Reid does seem quite fond of covering the Black Knights, sitting down with him... or given the situation some pomp and circumstance might do well for morale."

"You mean a gala?" He questioned.

Schneziel gave a shrug, "Clovis has the paintings drying to justify one. Inspired by the recent situation he has been," Clovis, truthfully, had been painting like a mad man... when he wasn't otherwise rushing too and fro from other things, "Its as good of an excuse as any to tackle this." Cornelia wanted mass production knightmares, but Schneziel, while not a scientist himself, was interested in research... Lelouch wasn't even sure if the second prince had financed any mass production designs personally... though obviously in the capacity of prime minister he'd sanctioned expenditures for that goal. "Your March system is innovative, Lloyd and I had been talking about detachable high speed flight systems since the Sutherland had come out, but," Obviously, "Had only become practical quite recently."

The eleventh prince turned around and rested his back against the wall, "Yeah, power," He muttered more to himself, "Ambitious developments, oh Lloyd said you had been asking about the Manchesters?"

"Those are the skinnier ones yes?" Lelouch made a vaguely affirmative noise, "Ah I had thought so, obviously there has been extensive proliferation of the Sutherland design over time I was thinking that some comparison might be in order."

Another vague grunt... well if anyone had the resources to throw at that kind of study in this climate it was Schneziel... especially if he could get the privy purse to sign off on it to reimburse him. "I know Cornelia was wanting to look at the Sutherlands,"

"There are so many now, every little variation scattered about, you would think we were cousin Jerry, I dare say," The blonde declared offering Lelouch a cut crystal class of what was probably far too expensive French Brandy, "But each seems to have its merits, that Vagabond of Kyoto, and your Devil, the E, and all the rest deployed throughout the empire. We'll need to pair down, what was it that is said about logistics, eh?"

-scene break-

While Lelouch gathered some much needed sleep work continued at pace. Jeremiah's duty here is as much to the Prince as it is to the Empire. Kyushu's events had unsettled the public, and this fresh round of disturbances ratcheted things up a few notches further up. He could feel it when he walked down the streets of the settlement, but at the same time the citizens looked to his uniform for guidance... and that was refreshing.

The pay bump was also quite nice... or would be once he actually got a chance to spend it... as it was right now there wasn't much to buy. The other bit of the promotion was re organization, and drilling the lads to standard, which Jeremiah enjoyed in its own right. The real advantage though came in insuring Viletta and the other survivors were appropriately promoted as well. The viceroy understood she needed competent officers, which truth be told was something Clovis had never quite grasped during his tenure in the post... too many parties to throw... not that Jeremiah didn't enjoy the occasional bash or even soirée, but there were limits to what was decent after all... and Clovis was far over that line. Still Clovis was just as like to get his way this time, and well perhaps a party was overdue given the resolution of the fighting... at the same there was the danger it painted a target on their back.

"It seems soon,"

"Its not just us, of course." Jeremiah declared, "For the regulars, and the militia its at the Viceroy's pleasure whom to promote, or to recommend, but Prince Clovis will have his say in suggesting his own knights are rewarded." Leaving likely the poor bloody infantrymen to the scraps, but such was the army's way. "As for this thing..." nothing was ever strictly an army affair even if it was for the victory... the nobles and industrialists would come of course, "Well I'd rather face the Chinese than Area 11's high society, but thats our lot."

Cornelia had no patience for the game of the idle rich, and powerful. It had been Clovis's area, his tendency to indulge in the schmoozing amongst the blue bloods. It had always been a troublesome burden. The upper echelons of the military tended to be blue bloods of course. Ring knockers of prestigious academies, and first or second sons of long and distinguished breeding. Jeremiah was not unique in such after all he met both criteria... and yet hearing about textile taxes was as tedious and uninteresting as could be... so he'd avoided as many of Clovis's gatherings as he could... but Clovis was no longer viceroy, and this had been 'real warfare' not simply suppressing the rebels in the area. Not showing up was not an option for anyone much as Prince Lelouch likely contemplated such a course.

At least with Cornelia as Viceroy military dress was to be expected rather than trying to keep up with the latest inane civilian fashion that was 'in' this season... or week or whatever.

"And the snap drills?"

"The Viceroy expects joint operations, and patrols with Prince Lelouch's Black Knights to go smoothly, as such veterans of this," Jeremiah ground his teeth, "weekend war are preferable," Most of whom were enjoying their leave passes at the moment of course... well the knightmare devicers at least... technicians, and regular soldiers were not quite so lucky given the heightened security around the Tokyo Concession.

A knock on the door ended the matter, "Lord Gottwald," The functionary declared, "There is an arrival in the lobby for your signature."

"The Black Knights, then?"

"Prince Schneziel's man, I believe," The junior officer remarked.

"Well, then I am sure it is of great importance if the prime minister wants a signature for his dispatch," Jeremiah declared clapping the other Britannian on the shoulder as he passed through the door. The exact boundaries of the prime minister's authority in the Empire was always rather murky on the best of days. Schneziel's degree of leeway probably even varied day to day, but most of the time the Prime Minister spoke with the voice of the Emperor.

-scene break-

Schneziel didn't expect flying knightmares any time soon. Clovis detested the idea of waiting of course, but one must suppose a flying ship is much more grand... or at least that was how the younger blonde prince looked at it.

Technical issues be damned. The issue to that was they really were an impediment to him... and also probably money... but mostly not having the technical expertise. Lack of building space too, Clovis reminded himself ashe rounded on his litany of retainers, "I don't suppose any of you have managed to get a hold of Lelouch today?"

"He had a meeting with Princess Cornelia," One of the men remarked before a moment's pause, and then pressed "this morning rather. Something about those beastly elevens."

"Still I can't imagine why Lelouch didn't just ask, I mean its not like they're not a nuisance to the rest of us, here in the Settlement as well," Clovis shrugged, "er when you say this morning, when did you mean exactly,"

There was an awkward pause, "Well your highness it was quite early, I'd say they finished they finished about nine thirty. Sir Guildford was dispatched straightaway to the Royal Air Force to discuss patrols around the concession."

"That seems sensible enough," Clovis nodded, suppressing another yawn. "Did she say anything about arrangements for festivities its not like we could dare wait until yuletide?" Naturally of course before anything else could be said the emergency alert system began to wail. "Oh bother what now?" Clovis asked more to himself than anything... after all he hadn't heard any explosions, but that didn't mean anything given his location in the settlement.

Still as Sub-Viceroy he retained significant access to the command and control structures of Area 11, and he had the experience with them to use them... something that Euphemia lacked. Clovis knew how the provincial administration worked, and while that didn't help him deal with Cornelia's personal structures those constituents were only a small part of the greater whole.

As much as a demotion as it was, truthfully the loss was more prestige related. Cornelia ran a militarist, and minimalist day to day structure, which meant the sub viceroy dealt with civilian matters of 'lesser importance'... which as far as Cornelia was concerned was all, or at least the majority, of those issues.

Whatever it was that was going on Clovis could tell it wasn't too serious, "Only the knight police units have been deployed so far." One of his aides remarked shouldering the phone in order to answer the viceroy's inquiries, "They seem to be establishing a cordon."

"What about Lelouch, or Cornelia? They must be doing something." Clovis had been enamored by the knightmares, ever since Marianne had taken him for his first ride on the Ganymede, but he was not the charge into the fray as Cornelia was, and the Viceroy had been quite clear that whatever knights Clovis wished to gather about were to stay out of the way. Clovis might have preferred she had phrased it more tactfully, but he understood... and understood that given the situation he'd need to make improvements to his royal guard, but that took damnable time. "Eupehmia, she's probably at Ashford," With Nunnally no doubt, Clovis thought wringing his hands, "We must not overplay our hands, nor overreact in some way." He said, more to himself, "What can be done?"

Another aide looked up from his phone, "Your highness there have been reports that the Gawain has launched, its not clear where Dame Alstreim is headed." The knights of the Round were free to do as well they pleased after all. "I amend that, Ashford's grounds would be the most likely location given current course."

"oh well thats good news... isn't it?"

-scene break-

Lelouch slid the id card through its reader, and let the pneumatic seals finish before ushering in Milly and his sister, "Lelouch what about the-"  
"The Gawain touched down, and there are Cornelia's knights on the perimeter," He scoffed, because he could understand the Glasaton Knights responding, or Cornelia's royal guard, but a knight of the round... it was ridiculous. The Emperor's personal knights weren't beholden to the defense of even a dozen princes. It was suspicious, but who could say really. "There is a vidcom unit in the wall to keep you apprised, just stay with Nunnally, and Sayoko."

Once the seal was back in place and the bulkhead locked, Kallen posed the important question, "So what is happening Lelouch?"

"Separate bombings," Two subway stations in different districts, "but it doesn't make any sense." They were random according to reports, as if the attacks themselves were irrelevant. Propaganda value aside they weren't accomplishing anything of note, target wise or such. "Either way Cornelia wants you, and Suzaku ready to go."

"Shouldn't you shove the pink princess back there to?"

"I would if Suzaku would mind telling me where she was," Admittedly that was probably Llyod's fault, given the confusion of the present, "either way for now we sit and wait." Lelouch glanced at his pager, "Check yours," He spared a glance over at the readout, and grimaced, "I'm calling Cornelia and getting confirmation, before I start a riot."

The Ashford Campus's hangar, truth be told, needed a retrofit given recent trends, it was probably why Schneziel's camelot utilized trailers, but it had the advantage of power supplies for dozens of knightmares. Not much in the way of ammo of course, but that was a result of a myriad of concerns including the security of storing it. Space in the Tokyo Concession was a premium, it was much easier farther north away from the Colonial government.

Kyoto wielded a substantial amount of influence through the National Advisory Council. While such institutions existed in other Areas Japan had the advantage of abundant Sakuradite resources, which of course had been the reason for the invasion in the first place. "Whats going on?"

"Its a distraction, the Kokuryutai blew the industrial rail line," The High Speed Rail link built after the invasion to go directly from the Mt Fuji Mine Complex to the Tokyo Concession area. Whilst there were workarounds the potential economic slow down was significant... and well... "The Fuji mines have stopped communication."

"Are they under attack?"

"If I was... if I was General Uchiwa that would be what I would do." The question became how in depth the attacks against the Settlement, or even Tokyo were... how far they were meant to go, "Get to the Gurren and standby this could get worse." At the same time that could be a feint as well, taking out the road access, and cutting communication as feint to more severe attack against targets in the settlement was likely as well... or it could be intended to just agitate without expending serious manpower; to provoke Cornelia into overreacting.

Kallen went one way, and Lelouch leaned against a wall... Cornelia needed to apprised, air defense zone Tokyo needed to be put on a alert... and for that matter well Suzaku and Euphemia needed to be found... of all the damned times to be off campus... seriously getting Llyod, of all people, to pick them up from a cafe... and then there was still the issue of the knight of the round.

-scene break-


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

-scene break-

Lelouch wondered what the fuck the JLF were doing right now, because there had been no word from them since Kyushu. As if that wasn't enough Kyoto was out of contact as well. Realistically the two were probably making sure they were on the same page... but that was far from a definitive anwer.

Kallen was sitting in her cockpit... doing basically nothing. They were all waiting... waiting for answers that might take hours to get a hold of... so even Cornelia was in a command center rather than a hangar.

Kyushu if not for the weather would have been as close to a textbook military lecture. Hopefully, for the sake of everyone's pride, the Chinese had been acting on meteorlogists rather than the recommendations of court astrologists, given the gamble that the campaign had been. Still this wasn't Kyushu... Sawasaki's own propaganda had attempted to paint a specific kind of picture, but...

"Well?" Cornelia demanded. The viceroy despised the waiting game that was being play.

Lelouch could empathize, "We've confirmed that the Kokuryu have cut landline based communications," the direct ones at least, which was at best a temporary set back, but enough of one to be a nuisance. "at multiple points between Kanto, Chubu, and Kansai." The bigger concern though... "We've lost all contact with the Fuji Complex."

"What about air based confirmation?"  
Darlton grimaced, "They have surface to air missiles," Unknown number in total, but enough to take potshots at the first attempt at taking a peak, "And deploying forces by rail will take several hours," Even if they left now, which was something they weren't ready for. "given the damage." He pressed a button and brought up the pictures they did have, and it at least implied Kyoto had put up a fight rather than ceding the mines without incident.

The Burai were common, and Mattei, Sutherland clone, were becoming more available, but thankfully still an only infrequent sight. Still Kyoto wasn't stupid enough to maintain a large force at Fuji, and certainly no JLF units. Without Rail, and without the ability to directly hot drop in the AO the only option was an 'advance on foot' so to speak and that was a major disadvantage. "We have to consider they've probably booby trapped, or done extensive damage to the mines already."

"He's right," Lelouch agreed grudgingly nodding in Guilford's direction, "And we do need to resecure the mines..." It had been a matter of pride, internal, and external politics to leave the mines in the position they had been security wise.

Schneziel cleared his throat, "Well the Avalon can fly still," He pointed out, "But it will at best be able to provide limited fire support,"

"You can bring the shields online?" Lelouch inquired skeptically.

His brother stared, "That was the first thing we fixed," He responded incredulously, "Weapons, on the other hand, are either offline, or have been removed entirely." The prime minister held up his hand, "And Cornelia, you can't go. IF we commit to this, I'll need Suzaku Kurrugi and the Lancelot, but you have to remain in command of the Settlement."

"Excuse me, and what you'll go gallivanting off with Lelouch-"  
"Lelouch isn't going either," Schneziel interjected forcefully, "I will take Guildford, or Darlton if you would like, however our position dictates we must be prepared to defend the city from an attack. You are viceroy, and you will be needed here."

For his role, Lelouch was looking at the projected map of Tokyo's wards. "What are you going to need?"

It wasn't a guaranteed thing that Anya Alstreim would go with the prime minister, but that would have been nice. Still as a Knight of the Round she was beyond his ability to command... so it was up in the air. Beyond that though Schneziel could take, borrow, or requisition whatever he needed from Britannian supplies.

"Nothing extreme," The second prince declared, "And really its more what I need, is from Clovis if either of the Siegfrieds are operational. I can't deploy a combined arms task force from the Avalon its not feasible, it never was," Even if the ship was a hundred percent operational the vessel wasn't designed for that, "I can deploy a few squads of knightmares so I need expertise for that kind of combat, but I also can't risk depleting Tokyo's defenses either." He paused, "And you're sure that these scoundrels don't have energy weapons?"

"Positive," Lelouch promised... that would have been more reassuring of course if that whole incident with the Avalon getting damaged in the first place hadn't happened.

-scene break-

Suzaku did a few final checks of the Lancelot, and assured himself that this wouldn't be like how Kyushu had played out... and took some solace in that these were people Lelouch admitted he legitimately hated. "Lancelot is ready."

"Splendid," Llyod declared, "well we're on final approach, so don't die!"He wasn't even bothered that they hadn't fixed the ejection seat issue... even as they were coming up on the drop zone.

Schneziel's task group for the drop was a mixed bag. Camelot, and Black Knight manufactured equipment had been installed on a fighting force comprised mostly of improved Sutherlands. It would have been preferable to have Gloucesters or Edinburghs, but those were in short supply.

Fighting Burai, uphill, was different than fighting Gunru in rolling hillsides... and there was no telling whether the dragons would even be fielding Burais. The Avalon's avionics suite was already processing camera feeds of the area...

No SAM attacks on the approach so far... the Kokuryu probably recognized it was a pointless waste of ammo, or maybe they'd withdrawn the systems from the field already... either way. "Just keep alert," Darlton ordered over the detachment wide channel, aboard the sole Edinburgh March in the detachment. "We're probably facing a mechanized force, Knightmares, infantry, maybe some light vehicles... technicals."

The deployment plan was simple. The Float System was able to allow the Avalon to hover, and with terrain mapping being what it was the couple hundred meter airship could get close enough to the ground to deposit them without risk... in theory. Unfortunately the threat of anti air meant even float system equipped knightmares were risky so the briefing had warned against flying... or jumping too high for that matter.

Then there was the whole issue of whether they were going to assault Fuji's interior. The mines probably had underground links to the network of tunnels favored by terrorists. From the look of the images transmitted to the Lancelot from the Avalon's cameras the attack had been initiated from the road. There were tracks, and burned out checkpoints from grenades, high explosives, and incediary weapons... and wrecked Burais... in Kyoto's colors.

A greenlight came on in the hangar, and the Avalon's passengers shuffled to the door.

Fuji itself even as a mine, even as a battlefield was still impressive to look at. The roads were dotted with smoking remnants of the fighting, which infringed on the efficiency of the Lancelot's fact sphere's infrared sensors, probably intentional. There hadn't been any time between Kyushu's resolution, and now for Llyod to make any sweeping modifications to the Lancelot, but the new VARIS rifle was nice. It at least gave Suzaku some flexibility.

Llyod's face appeared again, "I'm detecting energy signatures, enemy contacts." Whilst most vehicles used energy filler technology besides knightmares only tanks really had enough of a signature, for ground vehicles, to identify with passive searches, and that was really if they were powered up. "Knightmares."

Combat telemetry began to feed in. It wasn't entirely accurate to say the JLF had developed the Raikou... Suzaku had heard Lelouch complain about how slapdash it was, usually in the same breath as talking about purpose built solutions, but the enemy still used them... that even apparently extended to these people. "Those aren't Burais Suzaku." Cecil warned.

What the Kokuryu called the Kyoujun were was a counterpart to the Mattei unveilled by Kyoto in the past months... that was to say a Japanese Sutherland. The biggest clue was the slight differences in armor, and paint job. A paint job, that tucked away as he was aboard the Avalon, Schneziel could wonder if it offended Lelouch that the Black Dragon colors were so close to his own knights scheme.

Darlton was already parsing the information from his avionics, "Alright by the numbers people, and watch for possible explosive traps." There was a round of affirmatives, and that was that. Knightmares on both sides started to move into position.

In theory Schneziel's task group had the range advantage... in the form of Suzaku VARIS, and the heavier cannons a few of the Britannians had deployed with because they hadn't known what they were possibly facing. In real world conditions, that was to say assaulting upwards the incline an accurate shot was not a question of who had the range. In armor combat knightmare rifles were lethal inside a certain area. Lighter composite material had replaced RHA even in tanks the prior decade, and this trend allowed enhanced survivability. A KMF submachine gun might, _might_ have a range of two kilometers against area targets but it wasn't lethal against another giant robot at that range... well barring luck like ammo cooking off or such.

No one wasted ammo... and that put Darlton on guard. Good fire discipline was something that was hard to ingrain; especially in knightmare pilots. It didn't help that he was in a machine that would draw nearly as much fire as the Lancelot.

Correlated with the larger, and more precise avionics aboard the Avalon there were at least a dozen enemy knightmares... and according to intelligence space in the shafts for other ones. Never mind mines or IEDs, liquid sakuradite could be set off on accident...

Suzaku zoomed in, even with the Avalon's hover capability to get them close, they were still kilometers from the summit of Mt Fuji. From the air knightmares looked positively tiny compared to mount Fuji. "Three Squads, about eight hundred meters apart, I think they're guarding the entrance to the primary access shaft." Digging into mount Fuji had been a herculean undertaking of geology, after all there was sakuradite, and the fact that it was a technically still an active Volcano.

"I've got vehicle treads, probably heavy trucks, but they could be from the mine." ON the other hand trailers were the usual way of transporting knightmares...

Suzaku acknowledged the report silently as they advanced up the access road that was suited for those kinds of vehicles, as the Avalon loomed behind them. Schneziel loomed, and with the ship a direct link back to Tokyo almost a hundred and fifty kilometers away. That was when the jamming started, ECM, and then the first explosions went off.

"Stick to tight beam comms," Darlton ordered, over the channel, as he surveyed the area. The approach was still to easy, the explosions had been somewhere in the complex... not even directed at them. "That was from inside."

The enemy Sutherland types were moving towards them as well. Suzaku kept track of the Britannian Sutherlands with heavier rifles, which were keeping to the flanks. "They're not slowing down to link up."

"It won't matter," Darlton remarked, "Even if we engage one squad first the other two will hit before we can take them out." He commented looking at the topographic map. They wouldn't be able to scale fast enough, "This is also a rear guard,"

"Most likely," Schneziel remarked, but it'd be another two or three hours before conventional forces could make it to Fuji in force at least. "So take them out, and find out what happened." Given the size of the Fuji extraction operation there had to be survivors.

"Yes your highness."

A thousand meters... six hundred meters... and then gunfire... Suzaku had to resist the urge to power up the float system that Llyod had equipped the Lancelot with, and charge in. Melee combat was something that had been taken into account when the Sutherland had been designed after all even if the Lancelot would be better at it.

The industrial access road up the Fuji slope was designed to prevent amongst other things erosion, and mudslides. This was accomplished with a combination of high tech foundation solutions as well as ancient solutions like gabion nets. There were however buildings scattered up the hillside for various reasons... maybe the had a legitimate purpose, but right now they were in the line of fire. Suzaku adjusted the charge setting on his rifle, and fired. At inside of three hundred meters Knightmare rifles run the risk of over penetration... that doesn't mean much against knightmares, and they weren't fighting tanks.

"Kurrugi, you're with me." Darlton ordered, his targetting suite painting the enemy knightmares in advancing from the rear. The Kyoujun were minimally equipped for melee combat, emphasizing rifles, but some were carrying the knightmare scale shotguns.

Schneziel watched the battle play out, and walked over to another console, "This is the entrance of the main administrative building isn't it?"

"Yes your highness."  
"Zoom in."

-scene break-

Lelouch tossed the phone on the table; Kirihara the Traitor was dead. Sousuke had trussed the old man up like a boar... it was unacceptable. The last thing he could risk was going to tell Cornelia that he feared that elements within Kyoto could be in league with the bastard. No the NAC needed to continue to exist, at the very least until the JLF's positions could be felt out.

Then there was the whole mine issue. "This is a disaster for the industry." One of the aides muttered from down the table. The stock exchanges were going to go nuts... on the other hand the price Sakuradite was going to increase, and that meant money in the coffers... one took the good with the bad.

"What about the enemy knightmares?" Cornelia demanded.

"We're still investigating, but they're Sutherland clones, nothing we haven't seen before." The Army engineer declared. He wasn't the only one dismissive of them, Llyod though well it was understandable because he barely paid the Gloucester any mind. These certainly weren't Gloucesters by any means, which was about all Cornelia cared to find out. All Lelouch was hearing though was that the Kokuryu were producing their own Sutherlands.

"Lelouch." Cornelia called out insistently.

He grunted, and looked up, "What?"

"In your opinion is an attack on Tokyo immediately forthcoming?"

"No," He declared after a moment, "Killing Kirihara was a public statement, it was a declaration of intent. An assault is unlikely, but more probing efforts are possible." An all out assault though... no, but in truth a direct engagement would be easier to deal with. Defending infrastructure piecemeal was... well saying resource intensive... was being charitable. Lelouch pinched the bridge of his nose, and glanced around... and what was worse was trying to compose a eulogy of some kind for Kirihara wouldn't do any good. Plenty of regular japanese people would celebrate the news, because of the title he was most associated with... and admitted he supported any part of the resistance... well that would brink flak from Cornelia.

"Then we have time."

Politically Area 11 had too many Royals, on top of factions vying for limited resources. Clovis, when Cornelia had first arrived, had stopped scrambling to rebuild his own forces. In other cases that might have been understandable... then Kyushu had happened... and now suddenly Clovis thought it was important again. There had technically been three siegfried hulls built, only two operational by the time Kyushu had rolled around; reflecting the expectation of a later date for the Chinese invasion. So in the aftermath the third hull had been left unfinished, used for spare parts, between two already diverging versions of the Siegfried.

Schneziel had the fewest troops available... in any other situation by the number to the point of irrelevance, but the Lancelot was his... even if Suzaku was Eupehmia's knight of honor. The second prince could have Llyod or Camelot in general discuss other options, but there was very little to force the matter of the Gawain on the other hand.

As Viceroy Cornelia had command of all forces under that hierarchy, and her own house troops. In this situation though there was a problem, despite sporadic bouts of terrorist attacks Area 11 had been considered a largely model colonial territory. The success of the Knightmare during the invasion had precluded the need to deploy vast occupation forces. Regulars of the Britannian army were limited to major Britannian settlements, chief amongst them the region of the Tokyo Concession zone.

"As viceroy you have the power to raise new regiments," Schneziel remarked over the video screen, which was true... even if under archaic Britannian law that power could be exercised by any number of 'acknowledged' individuals. "It however does not help us in the short term," Such units would need to be trained, and provisioned.

Reorganizing Area 11, administratively speaking, had been an imminent reality... necessity after the Weekened War... "We'll deploy the Army's engineers to Fuji as soon as is feasible, and we'll request troops from the homeland." Processing that kind of request would take time, Britannia after all had more pressing fronts... there were already expecting delays in months worth of military supply to extant units.

-scene break-

Lelouch looked at the map, and pressed a button. Tokyo faded away. The Colonial administration admittedly had no choice but to defend the city, but Japan was larger than just the city. Area 11's economy was based around Sakuradite... and attacking Fuji meant attacking that industry.

Kyushu

Shikoku

Chugoku

Kansai

Chubu

Kanto

Tohoku

Hokkaido

The further one traveled from the central hub, from Tokyo the more dim the influence of the colonial government was. The islands of Kyushu and Shikoku had had resistance groups active for years... and while some material had been seized significant quantities had never gotten back into responsible hands. These groups were less likely to be directly controlled by Kyoto who's influence was most strongly felt in Kansai, and neighboring Chugoku.

It had always been suspected that the Kokuryutai had fled into Southern Honshu following the autumn of the years previous. The attack on Fuji even suggested Chubu... and then there was the fact the JLF had had their strongest base so close to Tokyo to consider.

Lelouch personally suspected somewhere on the western seaboard... not that it mattered. Something like the battle for Narita was completely out of the question. Schneziel, and, or Cornelia visiting Hokkaido on the other hand was much more plausible... especially given the Avalon's effective immunity to anti air weapons even when at low altitude.

"So Kirihara is-" Kallen began.

"Dead, yes." Lelouch interjected, "On the one hand we'll need to examine our relationship with Kyoto carefully now." Questions regarding Kaguya's security came to mind, as did anyone who might share her, or Taizo's fondness for the Order. "On the other..." He stopped, "Did Suzaku tell you what he thought? Of the dragons in combat?" They had fought to the end, a suicidal holding action to delay Schneziel's task force. "He described them as insane. Llyod is pulling apart their knightmares..." what was left of them, "Now. The crux so far is that they're a tweaked Sutherland clone," Integrated lessons learned since they had been rolled out, "an emphasis on mid range combat, shotguns, and machine guns. They call them the Kyoujun."

"Strong Shield?"

Lelouch shrugged, "Thats about the sum of what we know right now. As for Kirihara's death, we're going to class tomorrow, at the very least until lunch. Then we're going to try and get ahold of general Katase, and the JLF." If... even if Cornelia had had the resources occuyping Kyoto was... mindbogglingly stupid at this stage even after the attack on Kirihara and Fuji... the JLF on the other hand wouldn't be too out of place security wise. That was the hope at least... the NAC would have to be responsible for Kyoto's security... the city and the six houses. "Kyushu, and Shikoku can be written off," barring another foreign power intervening... of course, "Black Knight influence in Tohoku is... extant, but limited largely to popular support." The simple fact though was that resistance groups in northern Honshu were quite likely to be attacked by the Kokuryu-tai on grounds of collaboration with the Black Knights because of it. "Security of Tokyo is for the time being our primary focus."

"Wasn't that what we were doing?" Kallen pressed, "Or is this about training with Cornelia?"

"Precisely..."

-scene break-

"You're insane."

A it happened Lelouch's siblings actually threw around that word quite a lot. Clovis especially, but was also on the receiving end of it often enough. "Its a splendid idea," He protested, "Really though, Lelouch is going to have to go public with things as it is, we should see it happens with some pomp and circumstance."

"Your gala idea was stupid before, but now we're on the edge of a crisis and you want to talk about that?" Cornelia snapped.

Schneziel nodded, "Cornelia, all harshness aside, has a point. I need Lelouch's technical expertise more than I do as a public figure. In our present situation it would be better to hold off," He pinched his nose... something he'd been doing more often recently than he cared to admit. It was a sign of weakness that he could only afford to demonstrate in the security of company he was in, "We have a knight of the round in the city, and she wants Lelouch to look at the Gawain," It didn't make a whole lot of sense to Schneziel, but right now his primary focus was avoiding any unnecessary conflicts, "Has he said anything to you about going north?"

"He said he'd pencil it in." Cornelia commented with a derisive snort, "We're only Viceroy, and Prime Minister, security concerns aside."

"Security is what he's worried about."

"Lelouch has subjected the entire terrorist organization that faces us with a kill on sight order," She rebutted, "He probably wouldn't consider it secure without a thousand Assault Frames in the present situation."

Schneziel eyed his brandy in contemplation, "Perhaps, and while that would be greatly assuaging to my own concerns at the moment as well, but we don't have such. Once Tokyo is adequately secure we will review what can be done, and what cues can be taken. Now about the arrival of supplies?"

"The heavy palletized cargo ship Austral Realm has offloaded," The actual cargo manifest was a lengthy document, much heftier than what had been 'filed'. "Ammo and spare parts, which are being delivered to the prioritized units as we speak."

Manpower, for installation and alignment, aside that would restore several squadrons worth of knightmares to combat worthy status. Schenziel looked up from his swirling alcohol, "Thats what two battalions receiving the material?"

"Nearly three," Cornelia remarked, "though," only because "some are being outfitted with anti personnel machine guns," Cues taken from her own Gloucesters, "Given the need to reinforce the Fuji complex it seemed wise. It should be done by the end of the week," Only because of round the clock work. "After that priority goes to establish a Chapter House for the Glaston Knights, and a permanent expansion of its presence in Area 11."

"Thats not fair." Clovis declared explosively in protest, abruptly turning from Cornelia to Schneziel, and nearly spilling his glass of red wine in the process. "Schneziel tell her, thats..." He sucked in his lip and then exhaled slowly, "Thats completely absurd. You were just lecturing me on the need to prioritize our available resources."

His brother nodded, "It is Cornelia's prerogative," and while a more conventional regiment raising had its own advantages, a knightly order had prestige... and would be easier for Cornelia to administrate outside of her position as Viceroy. Supplying them would be another issue entirely, "As for the Glaston knights they will be conducting joint training with Lelouch's Black Knights as well."

"That was something I was wondering," Clovis declared deciding to change the subject just as abruptly, "The official name of the Knightly Order," for the Black Knights, "how is it rendered, is it French or Latin?" He shook his hand idly, "Lelouch was very fond of the Odyssey growing up what if he picked ancient greek," Classical languages had never been Cornelia's strong suit... and Clovis was being charitable to say her attempts at learning to speak French, which had admittedly been as a teenager, had been halting attempts at best.

"How is that relevant Clovis?" Cornelia growled at inane change of subject.

The third prince smiled, "Well it would be completely inappropriate, not to mention positively vulgar with regards to presentation. The common name of the order is just that."

"I will look into it," Schenziel declared putting an end to Clovis's attempt to harangue Cornelia over matters of social ettiquete in an attempt to get even. Lelouch probably had an official styles letterhead somewhere... after all Clovis had been quite adamant about throwing some kind of festivities given recent events... better to indulge him on these things or else his little brother would be positively insufferable.

-scene break-

Todoh was at an impasse. One that had nothing to do with Rakshata, and her harping on about the status of his knightmare... or those of his unit. General Katase was alive. A fact which severely complicated his relationship with the Black Knights. Taizo Kirihara's death complicated that further... and there was the fact the JLF had yet to make contact either. Kirihara's death had no doubt thrown Kyoto into turmoil, but Todoh had expected at least some response, however cursory, to his inquiries via the Six Houses by this point.

When Japan had surrendered the Army had been intact. Material... everything from small arms to tanks had vanished wholesale as people fled in all directions. Some parties had sanitized records to hide things, but in the immediate post war years it had seemed pointless the Britannians reveled in their victory, and paid little attention to things missing from stockpiles. Kyoto had did what it could as it can into being, but without a nation's economy there was difficulty to maintain equipment without a steady supply of spare parts, and things wore out. As Kyoto grew it controlled the purse... Todoh was not a politician, or aspire to political position thus this was not an issue for him. Kyoto's money supplied weapons for the JLF and other resistance groups along with other logistics.

Today though was not how Todoh had expected to find himself, even a year ago he couldn't have imagined being in Tokyo without having to worry about hiding... never mind being this close to what had once been the Imperial Palace. The building they had appropriated in the vicinity of the port was a temporary lodging chosen more because it had room for their knightmares, and quick access to rails than any thing, that it was close to Prince Clovis's facility might have also played some role though.

Rakshata was still busily tinkering with the Gekka of the Four Holy Swords, but it was no secret that Kyoto had been manufacturing more without her knowledge. Lelouch had said depending solely on Kyoto was foolish. Still Todoh was hoping he'd receive some kind of response. "You look pensive old friend," Senba remarked, "There hasn't been any word from Kyoto?"

"Nothing."  
"It has only been a few days." Senba pointed out, but every day that came and went left Todoh with a task that he hadn't dealt with since before Japan had fallen. The same bureaucracy that Jeremiah Gottwald was dealing with. "The General said he would be in contact."

"The Promotions board is asking for recommendations, and reports." Todoh remarked. The JLF had recruited people from other resistance groups, and likely that had stepped up in the interim, but it had always been comprised of forces from the Pre War armed forces of Japan. "I'm concerned about the men."

There were others besides the Four Holy Swords who still clung to the uniform of the JLF even though they were apart of the Black Knights in the wake of what had unfolded after Narita. Now though the JLF had returned, Katase was alive... and the JLF would likely be responsible for protecting Kyoto.

"You mean divided loyalties, assimilation." Senba looked up abruptly as the Edinburghs posted on the perimeter began shifting.

Todoh noticed as well, "It doesn't seem to be an attack," He remarked cautiously optimistic as the dozen or so Edinburgh Tranche III knightmares maneuvered their way outside the perimeter gates.

-scene break-

Cornelia, and Schneziel had accompanied Clovis to the site where the younger blonde prince had his men working at a truly frantic pace. Each of Lelouch's primary factories in Hokkaido could turn out 12 Edinburghs from scratch a month at full production. Those same frames though required extensive tuning, and had complicated additional systems like shields. Clovis would have liked to be able to do that, but he had other items in mind. Cornelia, on the other hand, would settle for improved Sutherlands for the moment... and Clovis well that was fine just as long as he could build more Siegfrieds while he was at it.

Unfortunately Schneziel had shot that idea down very quickly. So Clovis was left with two flying balls of death that were still being tweaked. "Lelouch has a complex as well, some of his personnel are just down the way," Clovis pointed vaguelly away from their direction... to the point Cornelia wondered if they were in the opposite direction, "given the time I thought we might consider a late lunch afterwards, it would be polite to invite the officers along wouldn't it?"

"Is there going to be sufficent space here?"

"Well Lelouch and I had discussions about some urban projects," He commented, "a Harbor City Industrial Center if you would. I've spoken with some people and we could be producing frames in time for the first quarter."

Schneziel, who had a better grasp of the supply side matter of things, raised an eyebrow. "You have the personnel for that?"

"The Ashfords are going to be managing the facility, and Lelouch is going to let me borrow some of technical staff to train people. It is just Sutherlands we're talking about." The third prince declared airily waving the matter away.

Schneziel mentally earmarked it the information as to ask Lelouch, as Clovis's expectations were probably unreasonably high, "How many frames?" The second prince bit his tongue as Cornelia barged ahead in the matter.

"Oh I don't know," Clovis declared in typical blase manner, "Lelouch said something an about incremental work load increase. A battalion is what," He didn't wait for a response airly shaking his head and pressed on "anyway one of those I'm sure."

Schneziel smiled, indulgently, and nodded, "Well I'm sure that we can make whatever it is work given time were there any other progress?"

"Besides here, there was talk about the peninsula."

The further one got away from Tokyo bay the more evident the size of the ghettos became. There just weren't enough Britannians to reclaim things... there wasn't an interest previously to knock down and reclaim the land. Even Clovis understood this as an advisor had once commented that compared to what it had been, before the war, the Britannian population was a fourth of the number of elevens who had been living in the city... maybe even less.

Cornelia took the hint, and didn't press the matter, "Those knightmares will need weapons, and more importantly ammo." An actual Arsenal would be much simpler to construct, and even armor piercing munition could be locally manufactured withou needing an abundance of technical expertise.

"Right," Clovis hummed, "So," He gestured to the hangar, "Is where the Siegfried is," The first one anyway, "by Friday it will be up and flying again."

Schneziel supposed that was at least progress. Unlike conventional aircraft the Siegfried's hull had armor comparable to a tank a bunch of soldiers with shoulder launched missiles were irrelevant to such. "Good, its time we started showing the flag. The sooner the better." Indepth PR efforts to restore public confidence were going to be necessary, and that was why Clovis's party was important... the people needed to be shown that things were normal.

-scene break—


	5. Chapter 5

-scene break-

"We've confirmed it?"

The intelligence officer nodded, and Lelouch wasn't sure what the appropriate response to the news was, because it was certainly not good news per se. The rejection of Kyoto's authority was something groups had, admitedly, done before, and had made sense in the beginning of the occupation of course. As funding though had become difficult most resistance forces had acquiesed to Kyoto's authority in exchange for funding. "Sento may not have the resources to exert control over all of Kyushu," What the rebel did however possess was an unquantifiably large quantity of Chinese equipment, and more pressingly Burais... and of course plenty of popular support. There would be fighting... possibly... between the other groups on Kyushu... though that could be delayed. "On the other hand he has ties to the larger rebel groups in Shikoku." Kyushu and Shikoku being the two southern Japanese home islands That was a headache, but also meant Kyoto didn't have as much influence. Lelouch had had to bite his tongue to avoid demanding to speak with Kyoto's surviving heads.

Kirihara's estate was in limbo at least until an official will reading could be managed, and that would be friday at the absolute earliest... more likely it would be at least another week. Then there would be possible issues with probate courts or whatever other magistrates who might stick their noses into this mess. "About matters?"

Lelouch eyed the major, "If I didn't need Todoh right where he was I'd send him straight to Kaguya, but thats not an option Kizuna. In the interim I'm promoting Katsuya to Colonel, and in the coming year we'll be expanding the Fifth. I want options to expand into Tohoku."

"That will upset the balance, especially if the Joint Base at Yokusuka is approved by Cornelia." He pointed out, and Lelouch nodded signfying that that was the point. "This is because they killed Kirihara."

The terse nod was repeated, and Lelouch stared over the campus grounds. "Matsushima was planned a long time ago, and this is as good a reason as any to move forward." Kirihara hadn't been a young man... old age would have come calling eventually but Lelouch had never expected what had happened... in hindsight it wasn't like dragons hadn't done the same to other collaborating officials in the past. Still Kirihara's death upset the balance. "Sawasaki derided us as vicious grasping warlords, but Kyoto's influence has waned. I don't... think Sawasaki," Or us for that matter, Lelouch neglected to voice, "can understand how true that influence had dimmed. Kirihara's death, and the damage to the Fuji mines is..." Now of all times they had to move forward.

It was something that was hard to put to words. Kirihara hadn't just been money, or organization talent... or even a name for the Colonial Administration to parade around. Kaguya's age was a weakness, and while the Sumeragi name was powerful there was only so much it could do to compete with entrenched resistance. Then there would be the income lost to the NAC from the damage to Fuji mines. Oh Kyoto engaged in smuggling from the smaller mines, but some of what came out of Fuji were legal profits and there was extensive value to having that kind of cash available that was easy to explain because it was legal.

"When do you want this begun?"

"We're already reaching out resistance groups," Had already been doing that for years, but in the wake of things it would be an easy thing to make excuses for, "new overtures should made, but for the time being keep them low key. Hospitals, clinics, or even schools. Start with expansion of extant humanitarian aid," Recruitment drives were going to be needed, but right now there were concerns about JLF personel, and who might switch back given Katase's sudden reappearance. "Make sure the appropriate security measures are taken, we'll step things up incrementally." He added hastily as a bell rang signaling the end of lunch.

"About the technical data, the Mattei and Kyoujun-"

"We'll deal with it later, major." They were Sutherland clones, and that alone was bad enough news to be sure, but there were other issues. "Just keep it under wraps for as long as possible." Both the Mattei, and Kyoujun could use Sutherland factory parts after all so of course the Kyoujun should have been able to use Mattei parts. There were technical things which... should not have been... how they were... Cecille would probably report it to Cornelia if it somehow managed to not be included in Llyod's personal report.

-scene break-

Clovis despised having to hear about money... it was so very pedestrian. Still his preparations were coming together nicely, the paint was drying on the last few additions, and the Avalon's cameras had managed an amazing picture of the good side of Mt Fuji that he looked forward to recreating... if only he had time to convince Schneziel to have the Avalon loiter over the mountain for several hours while he painted... but that wouldn't be today, because Clovis was running low on his good paint... also talking Schneziel into it would be a chore.

Cornelia cleared her throat insistently, drawing Clovis back to reality. "Your duties, both of your responsibilities as Sub Viceroys," She began addressing both of her present siblings sternly, "It is paramount that this go smoothly."

"I have thrown more parties in the last year, than you have ever attended," Clovis declared in absolute seriousness, "This will go off without a hitch, just like the one before it, and the one that follows it, and for that matter in two months I will proceed tothrow the most stunning Yule bash it will make the homeland green as evergreens with envy. So don't worry about it."

No doubt that had been intended to be reassuring, but Cornelia had a sneaking suspicion this was precisely why Lelouch didn't attend Area 11's socialite infested events. "Lelouch is coming," And at this she held up a hand to, futilely attempt to, stop the pink explosion. "Thats enough Euphemia, this is important, because we are not formally announcing Lelouch as a prince of the empire."

"We're not?" Clovis interjected abruptly, "He's not going to wear that ash grey suit of his, its so... bland." He grimaced, and apologized at the look. "Right I mean we're not doing the announcement so whats the issue then?"

Besides the obvious security issues, Cornelia wanted to point out... well "There is the matter of the guest list."

"I will only invite people of pristine quality." Clovis promised. "Please no military uniforms though it really is quite a clash with the decor, wear a dress please?" He swallowed at the withering look... oh well it had been worth a shot he figured.

"I was talking about the question of the NAC."

"Oh thats right Mr. Kirihara was on the list." Clovis swallowed... "Dreadful business that. I mean assaulting an elderly gentleman like that, positively fiendish thing. What exactly were the plans with regards to the NAC again?"

Including the plutocrats of the Advisory Council did not appeal to Cornelia. The idea of having some doddering old eleven at the gala hadn't been high on her list of things either, but then neither was the idea of dealing with a mob of Britannian socialites. "It is a political reality Clovis. A reality you are going to deal with, with Euphemia. Talk to them."

"What about Suzaku?"

Cornelia inhaled sharply, "Your knight of honor is not on the NAC. This is about the right people being present to assauge concerns about Area 11's situation." It was also probably a good idea too keep him on standby in the Lancelot... just in case there was an attack.

"But he's my knight, shouldn't-"  
"Euphemia, he and Guildford both will be deployed as part of the QRF responsible for security for the event, and the Settlement." Cornelia declared forcefully, though in truth she was overstepping her authority. Euphemia was right, the Lancelot belonged to Schneziel, and while Suzaku was attached to the Camelot technical group he was under Euphemia's command; outside of Cornelia's nominal chain of command.

-scene break-

"So any plans?" Schneziel asked looking around.

Lelouch glanced at the clock... it was nearly five o'clock... night was not something he was looking forward to. "The 303 is nearly repaired, finally." Merlin's eighty millimeter automatic mortars were actually a Russian system... the scatter burst munitions were widely distributed to the Eastern District forces throughout Siberia... on the contingency of... of the Sino-Ruso bloodbath starting again, "So we'll be conducting activation tests tomorrow. Live fire drills as well."

'Thats a good turnaround," Schneziel watched an autocannon be offloaded, and rather than cutting to the by the by, indulged in his curiousity. "So what is it?"

Lelouch glanced down, refrained from rattling off the inventory designation, and identified its as a "27mm Rotary Auto Cannon. We found three barrels was too much wear," as a result of heat wear, "and seven was too heavy for multi chassis use." in no small part due to the cooling apparatus for the invidual barrels, "So we settled on five,"Admittedly the Black Knight properietary round had a velocity issue in the standard non treated barrels of autocannons. "The plan was actually to begin phasing them out,"

"Going to thirty millimeter you mean?"

"Or down to twenty five, depending on the situation." Lelouch admitted, "The Chassis Mounting system is variable, not vehicle specific so that wasn't an issue to tweak."

Schneziel nodded, "Fewer systems would cut down on maintenance one supposes. Speaking of maintenance, our resident knight of the round is rather insistent the Gawain is looked after."

"Is there... are there problems with the spare parts?" Lelouch asked, after all it was possible. Magnetic couplings were, pretty well, known to be finicky, and those systems especially were critical to stable particle density for the hadron cannons and so on.

"Not that I'm aware of," He replied, by recent events the Gawain seemed to have been perfectly capable of flying around the settlement, "Given Kyushu, though, and now this unpleasantness I was hoping that we might attempt to stay in the good graces of the dame."

Lelouch nodded, and sat down behind the desk, "Was there a specific issue?"

"She asked for you by name, so it might not even by the Gawain." Schneziel pointed out, "or its the systems calibration... father's most recent knights have been..."

"Cornelia is scared of one of them, a different one scares me, and then there is... Luciano who is a bloodthirsty sociopath," The eleventh prince finished, which was something he couldn't have fathomed having known Luciano when they were children... for that matter most of the current rounds were politically connected... "was that what you were going to say."

"I will admit the knight of one is quite imposing." Schneziel conceded, "either way she has the potential to be of signifcant help whilst she is here. Her orders are also one of the few sets the Emperor himself has publically dispatched as of late."

When Schneziel had started this meeting there had been a portfolio of technical information, which Lelouch hadn't had time to fully read through. Most because meandering around the room after having been sitting most of the day gave him a chance to stretch. "I thought you told Clovis airships were out of the question."

"but in the coming years they won't be," Schneziel promised, "Oh come on Lelouch you're thinking about it to. Its too tactically advantageous with particle shields even more so." The simple fact was most anti air weapon systems were designed for proximity detonation, and that didn't mean anything to something with actual armor of any significance. "Even if it isn't next year the Avalon demonstrates the usefulness. I can get funding from the Empire, that won't be a problem, but there will be people in the old guard that will drag their feet."

Lelouch stared at him. "Schneziel the Avalon is flying aircraft carrier. My hovercraft designs are barely fifteen hundred tonnes," Avalon could fly, honestly fly, and make it across the pacific. Its hull was designed to climb miles high into the air, while still also being capable of low altitude loitering.

"Clovis is going to build us a dock, but as you know that will take time. You however said it yourself. The Avalon doesn't have the firepower it needs, and we're going to need laminate armor, and particle weapons especially in the coming years." To protect against particle beam weapons, or any other future directed energy weapon for that matter. "Clovis has demonstrated he can run a scientific program, which surprised even me when he admitted to it, so between the three of us..."

-scene break-

Lelouch wasn't convinced about air ships... not so much that they wouldn't work, but in how fast they would be able to enter service. Dock building along would take most of a year, and then there was building the hull. Prototyping even with Schneziel's people was going to be time consuming and tie down personel... on the other hand it was an opportunity to get in on the early stages.

"Block D,"

"Avionics suite upgrade, the entire block were pretty much tweaked for assault roles from the very beginning of the planning stages." Block D comprised sixty knightmares, most were slated for electronic warfare and command roles in the 5th. Jeremiah watched the set of frames offload from beside him, "We suspended Assault Frame development. They were heavy, and expensive, and put the machinery in storage so as we discussed the 999 we planned for something to take the role. Tranche 3 for standard systems, and 4 to testbed the idea."

999-4, Jeremiah could remember being given the keys to the Tranche 3 he was still using, "You're really letting Sir Guildford have it?" To take possession of the Frame...

"I am," Lelouch acknoweldged... the Joust weapons pack were usable, without issue, by all Tranche II and later Edinburghs, "Oddyseus might be working on reinforcements, but these are here now."As it was Guildford had a command role. It was just unfortunate Guildford was going to paint the whole thing purple... if Guildford wasn't Cornelia's knight he would have had to suck it up and deal with a Sutherland until his Gloucester could be brought back to operational status, but that was just the way things were. "He's Cornelia' knight, exceptions have to be made."

Jeremiah nodded; Britannian's logistics situation... had always been complicated by the bickering inherent to Royal factionalism. It was part of the reason Britannia lacked a foothold on the European continent proper. The advent of the knightmare frame had only complicated the logistics further. Knightmares required a logistic footprint, support, comparable to Britannian tanks, which was in part why the Army still made use of tanks, and armored vehicles, far and wide. "About the new Sutherlands, your highness?"

"Did you read the report?" Lelouch pressed, it had been hastily put together after all, and at the affirmative he continued on. "The Sutherland," Planning for which had been discussed even before the Glasgow had actually seen combat, "entered mass production over six years ago, and given Japan's strategic importance it made sense to have lines to produce Sutherlands," Lines, which had never been intended, back in 2015, to produce wholesale units, "from reports some of those allegedly destroyed units, must have been stolen intact."

"By Kyoto," Jeremiah remarked.

Lelouch gave a vague acknowledgement, and at the time the Burai were already in service with the JLF, and given that Kyoto had probably decided to conserve material. There were questions, he had, with regards to what the plan must have originally been, but no answers seemed forthcoming. "As it happens there are differences, but not enough to seriously argue that these machines didn't come off the same lines. To the point I'd be willing to wager we're talking about the factory in Nagoya."

There were times Jeremiah hated being reminded it had taken them this long to find the lost prince, because that was precisely the kind of off the cuff information that would have been helpful to have on hand two or three years previous... never mind the other plans that could have doubtless been undertaken with Lelouch alongside them. "There is nothing to be done then?"

"Mattei, or Kyoujun it doesn't matter what they call it they're both still basically sutherlands, and really it doesn't matter. There are other lines by this point, there have to be with the Mattei we counted on Kyushu apart of the JLF." Lelouch turned on his heel, "either way Cornelia is going to have a fit." It was part of the reason he was giving the Edinburgh to Guildford sooner rather than waiting a couple of extra days.

"So with regards to the festivities?"

Damn Clovis and his social scene. He was only going to give a certain Ashford ideas for the academy... and that was never any good.

-scene break-

Schneziel's proposal informal as it might have been had been forwarded to the appropriate engineering concerns, as well as to other engineers who might be interested in chiming in on such initiatives. The general opinion, from admittedly hastily scrawled opinions, though was that even conservatively it would be an exorbanitely expensive projective... even with cost sharing... and there were mass considerations as well. Anything over a hundred meters was going to push close to five thousand tons. Both of which raised the questions of how Schneziel had managed the Avalon in near absolute secrecy.

Still even as it worried him Lelouch recognized other issues, seriously there was running a prototype hard, but this was something else entirely. "We're sure these readings are accurate?" He asked looking up from the console. In truth someone else could have been doing this, but the knight of the round was apparently rather insistent, and it needed to be done... especially given the apparent hours Anya Alstreim was clocking on the Gawain's float system. Schneziel's logic was sound there was no sense alienating the Round, especially right now of all times.

Sengoku Jidai. The age of the country at war, as Sawasaki's leaflets referred to it... and whilst Lelouch was quite tired of those incessant allegories it wasn't as wholly inaccurate as he would have liked. That Sawasaki's little spiel had roused the various self proclaimed 'samurai' factions up was... so very agitating.

"Whats the problem Cornelia?" He asked catching sight of the Viceroy's purple white ensemble on one of the reflective surfaces that were so abundant in the maintenance bay that they'd appropriated from Clovis for the afternoon... because as far as Tokyo was concerned there weren't any appropriate, Black Knight, facilities otherwise available. Even Schneziel agreed having a knight of the Round on the Ashford campus willy nilly was completely out of the question.

Never mind having to explain it to Milly or the rest of the school... as if the press wasn't enough of a pain already. No dealing with a Knight of the Round being on campus was too much of a burden to endure at this point.

Cornelia li Britannia loathed the task of Viceroy. She viewed the process of having to administrate civilian affairs, and dealing with the litany of corrupt plutocrats, and other parasites as beneath her. In its own way though Area 11was not quite so bad. The rampant militancy was more like a war zone than an allegedly civilized colonial holding. Clovis was a bumbling fopp but... loathsome as it was to admit he was a surprisingly competent administrator of the colonial affairs she had no talent for... which left her the army... and moments like these.

On the surface it was a far more pleasant arrangement than she had imagined, and yet Cornelia found the reality did not quite measure up. Clovis had had no traditional military assets to speak of, especially not after Shinjuku. Clovis's lack of troops might not have been the problem, but it was an awkward reality all the same, as the third prince's sole ties to the Regular military had been in his role as viceroy. Lelouch had more of a relationship, which... Cornelia stepped inwards out of the walkway, admitted to the logistical knightmare that all of this was, was a substantially easier thing for Lelouch, and Schneziel. "We agree that a reorganization of Regular ground," Forces, "is a necessary, yes?"

"Yes of course," Lelouch responded blithely, as he focused on the paired screens in front of him as he idly wondered what the Gawain's spare parts supply was like. Schneziel had said it was a prototype after all... having to retrofit something was... something to call Rakshata in for to be certain, "I'm assuming,-"

She nodded, "Darlton yes, he has the most experience with conventional combined arms." Which was as good a choice as any given the situation, certainly better than any of Clovis's people who had held the position, "Which does nothing with regards to civil policing."

Lelouch had no qualms about that. Darlton was rather adept at adapting, and would make the best effort he could... but this was significantly different. The JLF and Kokuryutai might have both drawn the bulk of their forces from the regular army, but the Kokuryu's officer corp were members of the Army intelligence service. Conventional tactics was not going to be their first choice in any attack against Tokyo.

Schneziel would not... could not stay much longer. It would deny them amongst other things the use of the Avalon. There was also no telling when the Emperor would chose to recall Anya Alstreim either for that matter. Reinforcing their position in conventional strength was an absolute must before both departed Japan. It was one more thing they knew had to be done, but actually finding time to undertake such seemed ... unlikely.

"Lets assume that at the very least the dragons are in comparable strength to JLF at the time of the Narita engagement." Lelouch commented, "The JLF who had all but abandonned operations within the Tokyo Settlement thats what we're faced with. They have knightmares now, and likely a doctrine of their own to use them." Conventional arms were not going to fix this... at least not any time soon given what they knew right now. There wasn't likely a Narita to catch the enemy at... and going around sparking landslides wasn't going to bring them down.

Cornelia's agitation matched Lelouch's with regards to their elusiveness... and then of course there was still the silence of hte JLF to consider. "Is that going to be able to fly?"

"It can fly now," Actually taking the float system out and putting back in would be... he thought about it... thirty hours of work easy, and that was assuming nothing was wrong. "its still something has to allow an armored vehicle to fly, thats energy and mass. Not that we can have the Emperor's knights falling out of the sky on television, can we?"

When Cornelia spoke though of reinforcements it had been the expected news. Oddyseus for all of his physical size was not of a military inclination... he had tried his hand briefly at a handful of sports, but none really, seriously, to his liking. There was little he could truly guaruntee. Any reinforcements which they could get would replacements first... green troops... and they would very likely die at rates much worse than experienced soldiers.

-scene break-

Jeremiah, and Darlton were both involved heavily with the handful of other officers of rank in dealing with the task Darlton had been given by his princess. Infantry, and conventional armored vehicles had been frequently neglected of course, that was nothing new. Early resistance groups had had more experience attacking conventional forces during the occupation, but eventually that had fallen to the way side as other targets took prescedence.

As Jeremiah understood things the Black Knights, beyond their knightmares were largely militia infantry. Whatever scattering of tanks, and other vehicles they might have had were apparently few and far between. By comparison the Regulars within Area 11 were tens of thousands of various infantry strong and hundreds of APCs, and tanks distributed to the Cavalry.

"Defending Area 11 had never been a problem," The Japanese Island Chain... no one had really expected an actual invasion from a foreign power, but the quick surrender of Japanese after the invasion meant troops were largely relagated to a handful of cities.

That had been true... before... a handful of terrorist attacks had meant little. They had been incosequential in the grand scheme of things, and when the JLF had been thought crushed a chapter had been thought closed. Then the Federation had invaded, which was something no one had thought feasible. The resurgent threat of native groups though posed a much more real threat to the Britannian populace. "That is not quite accurate Gottwald, there have always been attacks. Even the Black Knights have had their problems to the north,"

Lelouch had been exceedingly reluctant to disclose anything. Secretive was an understatement, much less disclosing anything specific about what precisely had gone on in the reaches of those northern marches over the last half decade. Cornelia had furiously accused him of witholding such in order to maintain the carefully cultivated mysterious origins of the Knights... not that she had really believed that... Jeremiah assumed, but it had gotten the Princess at least a redacted copy... heavily redacted if one wanted to be really accurate. Still it was a half decades worth of events condensed into less than a thousand pages of words, pictures and charts.

Subway, train, and postal bombings mainly. A shadow war fought by men in suits rather than in heavily armed knightmare frames. The problem of course was how it had developed. Jeremiah had visited the Hokkaido region the natives, and Britannians mingled without reserve standing around statutes of men long dead. HAG ground forces carried automatic weapons at train stations yes, but the Hokkaido police service were not visibly labelled as Black Knights. Those officers were mixed race as well, and yes armed but more importantly had a raport with the civilian population.

Darlton might not have personally minded this, but... he grasped the differences in administration. The political reality prevented that kind of operation from being viable, and certainly not in the short term span they were faced with. Specialized training for police operations would take weeks even for Honorary Britannians to interact in official capacity in the ghetto, and for definitive guaruntee of similar results.

Not an option. It just wasn't something they could even take to Cornelia.

-scene break-

It was one of those times... those days... that Kallen wanted to strangle Lelouch. That insufferable asshole hadnt been in History... which had largely been a droning account of the the mid eighteen hundred as Britannia had driven, a financially bankrupt, Spain from the New world. Then to add insult to injury the pink princess had someone how found her step mother... which was where she was now... her gold digging bitch of a step mother had heard Kallen was a knight, and knew the Viceroy, and now she was never going to hear the end of it.

What was worse was that with Old Man Kirihara dead her father was out of the house even more than normal given the damage done to the Fuji mines, and the effect that that had with regards to Sakuradite extraction. It was simple matter of temporal power, Lelouch had commented, the Stadtfeld family back in the homeland were crowing for greater influence in Area 11 given the perceived decrease of that influence after Cornelia had become Viceroy of the Area. In short greed... which was all Kallen needed to hear. Kallen was sunk into her chair face resting in her hands, when the car pulled up. "Finally." Rather than the Ashford School Uniform, or the uniform of the Black Knights, Lelouch had on ash grey suit with thin striping... the same one he'd been wearing when he'd foisted the Black Knight's Officer Candidacy Test on her. It was only taking the test why she was a lieutenant now rather than a warrant officer.

"Lieutenant Stadtfeld," Lelouch muttered violet eyes flicking in obvious irritation between the red head, and his half sister.

"Don't give me that, what was I supposed to do." Kallen growled.

"Exfiltrate yourself from the situation," He muttered, "Its not like you haven't climbed out a window before Kallen."

There was that urge to choke him again, "She's in my house, with my step mother." The Gurens pilot hissed furiously, "What do we do?"

"Oh that, we bring Cornelia into this," Lelouch replied catily, gesturing back towards the driveway of the estate idly. Let her deal with this. The Stadtfeld were ambitious... or rather the main branch in the homeland were, and well Kallen's stepmother as well... "has your stepmother even met the Viceroy?"

"At some gala." Kallen muttered back derisively.

"that doesn't count," He responded tersely look around. This was hardly the first time he'd been in this house, but it was obvious that Mrs Stadtfeld had been shopping... the woman's taste were garish to the say the least. "Clovis has been generous enough to send one of his limosuines."

"So you didnt come immediately?"  
"I was in fact working." The dark haired prince replied, which was certainly true.. Kallen repeatedly calling his normal phone, and then his emergency number had been very annoying. Even more so of course given Clovis had become incredibly nosy as the incessant buzzing had mounted.

Cornelia looked around, and made a comment about the decor and Clovis that was probably not intended to be the compliment that Mrs Stadtfeld took it as.

The limo that Clovis had provided was in theory comfortable. It was a kind of luxury, special features, that state cars tended to lack, but were marketted to the upper crust. Lelouch had never wasted money on those expenditures, his first limo purchase had been selected for its armor package... and he honestly wouldn't be surprised if Cornelia had a personel limo rather than one supplied by the Crown itself... either way Cornelia was not a fan.

"Is the Gawain ready?" The viceroy demanded.

"We're ready to begin testing," They would most certainly be ready well before any of Clovis's silly parties. That had never been in any doubt, Lelouch mused glancing out the window. The real question was how ready the Gawain was for actual combat... it could fly, and in theory the machine's particle cannons worked... still he was a little leery of the magnetic couplings on the hadron cannons until they could schedule weapons tests... and that wouldn't be today.

As the garish white monstrosity rolled down the prince considered what all was soon to change. As it was staying away from Ashford wasn't going to work. Kyoto was probably fragmenting... and the JLF to consider. There was having a Knight of the Round on the scene. There was even in Japan, and that was before considering the rest of the world.

-scene break-


	6. Chapter 6 Steely Sky

-scene break-

Helltanz's Notes: So before we commit to this chapter proper I'd like to bring up that Sunrise is doing a season 3... which means we need to talk about season 2. R2 has effectively no bearing on this story, and quite frankly I don't think Lelouch of the Resurection will have an effect on this, or God's Sword (my other CG fic).

[Since I just brought that up GS is a fic I've gotten emails about, and I started rewritting it and then kind of stalled so thats why this fic is my primary. Once Season 3 actuall starts I may go back to writing GS as well, but thats a pretty big if.]

-scene break-

Chapter 6

v1

-scene break-

For Kaguya... for the Sumeragi both as Concern, and a clan... the growing tumult was not what they had hoped for. Her position within the Six Houses had been after the JLF had been formalized. The Miracle at Itsukishima delivered by Todoh had been lauded by traditionalists, and won the JLF much of the leeway it had enjoyed with regards to funding from the Six Houses of Kyoto.

Kirihara had himself had been a major power in pre War Japan. The reemergence of the JLF though spoke of deeper fractures within the Six Houses than had been suspected. Kirihara's backing of the Black Knights had been contentious, despite the likes of the Istavaanians and Zero to play rough against despicable enemies.

In many ways though Kyoto relied on the same nepotism for security, as Britannian society used in its own society. Todoh's Miracle, and the patronage, by Kyoto, of the JLF had been instrumental in styming more... extreme groups. Without the wonder material Sakuradite Kyoto would not have been able to fund its social projects which were critical to feeding the population of the ghettos left behind by the war, and subsequent neglect of what had been Japan's cities.

Looking out over Kyoto was different... there was only a minimal Britannian prescence here... it was the closest thing to what Old Japan was left. Kyoto had itself not changed much since the invasion, enduring as much of a memory as it was a bookmark of all the epochs of Japanese History... and that was perhaps the problem. The Great Families of Kyoto... were divided... or had been without Kirihara's bearing that balance had shifted.

Kaguya would have preferred to definitively say that they could continue, but they couldn't. The damage done to Fuji wasn't irreperable, but it certainly harmed their credibility. Cornelia had more or less shrugged off the Kyoto marked knightmares left behind in the fight, but it was like she would forget it. They had failed to protect the mines.  
Watching Kyoto now there NAC marked Gekka leading squads of Sutherland-type frames that Kaguya wasn't entirely sure which they were supposed to be. It wasn't like the minutae mattered... the logistical evidence was damning. Someone in Kyoto had helped the JLF survive, and that was fine, but some other party in Kyoto had insured the provisioning of the Black Dragons... and that wasn't. There was also the question of why exactly the survival of the JLF had been kept quiet for months. Kirihara's funeral... and the reading of his will were unlikely to give much in the way of answers... and nothing that Cornelia could do was likely to improve the situation in regards to Kyoto... either the group or the city.

"My lady?" Kaguya turned sharply to her round faced retainer in the business suit, and nodded. It was the least of the problematic news. Kyushu had always been problematic of course, and rebel groups had always tried to act on their own, but most accepted Kyoto's oversight. Even if Sawasaki had failed it had been an impressive failure... there was so much Chinese material that had 'fallen off trucks along the road' now. Then of course there was the former minister himself. Neither Kyoto or Britannia could afford to kill him... it would have been an even greater embarressment... and right now damage control and public relations were working overtime already.

The Six Houses would have to make the trek to Tokyo soon. Cornelia was not going to set foot inside the old capital. In the wake of what she had 'won' at Narita the JLF, and Katase should now be more firmly under Kyoto's control.

-scene break-

Lelouch had been very irritated with his brother in the lead up to hostilities in the 'weekend war', and some of that diatribe had even been unfairly leveled. Schneziel had done... for that matter was doing a good job of managing the various public relations, and diplomatic side talk that were necessary... the truth was that Schneziel had been very easy to lash out against verbally... Cornelia was too conventionally military, and Clovis... well his bumbling about had facilitated much of Lelouch's planning over the years... having Schneziel had been like having an earthquake turn a room upside down.

Appearance was everything so he kept his posture far straighter than he did at Ashford. People made assumption based off appearance. It was amazing how little people would connect if mannerisms and appearance were changed. Lelouch walked up the wide stairs as the exited the limo, and towards the litany of armed men. It wouldn't hold forever, people knew now even if they only talked about it in hushed whispers that Lelouch vi Britannia was alive. That he pilotted a knightmare... and of some shadowy connection...

"Lelouch wait up damn it." Kallen snapped in an irritated whisper. The viceroy's palace was... in her opinion... a hideous example of post modernism and having too many royals. Clovis had been the first inhabitant after it had been completed, and Cornelia hadn't done much to his taste of decor. In the heightened state of alert though... the prevalence of so many armed men, uniformed soldiers or men in suits, cut a stark contrast. On top of that... Lelouch had allowed her bitchy step mother to come along... and well actually she wouldn't be allowed anywhere important because clearance was one of the things Cornelia did notably different than Clovis.

The eleventh prince pulled an id badge out of his coat and clipped it to the lapel, an action Kallen grudgingly mirrored. "Schneziel is already waiting." The lobby might still have been public access, but the executive elevator would take them up to the command floor, and getting into a room would mean being ready to show ID.

"Ugh," Kallen groaned, "What about the Avalon?"

He exhaled, "You've seen Rakshata and Lloyd in a room right?" Them with no sleep was even worse... and they couldn't agree on basically anything with regards to work conditions. "They've been at it since Friday." At least Schneziel had gotten the shields back online...

"Weren't we supposed to be testing Rakshata's frames, though?"

There was a nod as they passed through the check point, unmolested, though given Cornelia was right there beside them it wasn't surprising. "We were," and then the enemy had gone and strung Kirihara up, "and we will still, though after the old man's affairs are put to rest." The Chinese invasion had been bad enough... operations in Korea were already complicated enough... having to find some kind of stable ground in Japan was a nightmare.

It had really only been becaue Cornelia had been busy steering Euphemia around that things were this quiet. Regardless of responsibilities as sub viceroy Cornelia was more likely to involve Clovis than her sister in the military matters of the state... which wasn't saying much as Cornelia would have happily cut Clovis out if that had been an option... but he had R&amp;D, and technical people to contribute... and of course those monstrous flying machines.

Gottwald was also waiting, and with him the younger blonde prince as well. "I thought you might have been stalled in traffic," Clovis remarked in his usual excitable tone, "We're still working of course, but a question was brought up, and you're not answering your phone."

"I," Lelouch grimaced and pulled the device out of his pocket... his regular phone did show missed calls from his half brother... nearly a half dozen.

Schneziel shrugged the matter aside with a 'what can you do' expression, "I told him we could wait for you to get in," The prime minister stopped, "Euphemia this is going to be one of those things we need to borrow Suzaku for." He knew it was going to cause trouble, but it would take time for his own royal guard, and the units sworn to him to arrive. There was nothing that could be done with that... and... "We have to make do with what we have on hand." The pink princess scowled, but still acquiesed to go off to find her knight. "Lady Stadtfeld, I've spoke with your husband, I understand he will be returning in the next week."

Jeremiah, and Lelouch were the only ones close enough to hear Kallen mutter a quiet explitive under breath as they stepped into the massive sprawl of the command center. Screens were everywhere, along with a litany of document boxes, and the ever present wafting odor of dark caffeinated drinks. Schneziel would take a few minutes to deal with Kallen's stepmother, and Euphemia as well for that matter. "Those are Gekka."  
"Yes," Gottwald agreed, and from the looks of them not the variant Rakshata had been testing for the 4 Holy Swords, or the handful of others in Black Knights service during Kyushu. "They're part of the problem."

When the JLF had reappeared they had returned with more Gekka type frames than Rakshata had claimed to have overseen. That was actually the more concerning news, but at least thus far it was just Kyoto, and the JLF... rather than anyone else. "Those are NAC colors." Kyoto colors... "from the skyline that is definitely Kyoto."

"When did-" Cornelia scowled, and rounded on him, "When can we move to review Hokkaido."

He scowled, "I'm parsing down our production even now," Manchester, and Birminhams. Dudleys, and Eastbournes. They... all with everything else were thrown into the fray on Kyushu... Hokkaido were the factories, the backbone of industrial power, for the Black Knights in Japan. Confined to single island it was the opposite of Kyoto's strategy which was spread out across southern, and central Honshu as well as on smaller islands as well taking advantage of the labyrinth like underground network of rails and tunnels, "We will discuss this with Schneziel soon."

"If they are producing these we have to be able to respond to the JLF." Cornelia was probably still biased over the Hostage Crisis at Lake Kawaguchi. In its own way the Gekka was like the Gloucester, of course Rakshata had equipped the first ones with the same 'motor bike' cockpit to try and deal with the turns, and stress and such, but its real application was to fight other knightmares... and that was the big concern. "We've seen the shift from those knock off Glasgows, to the Sutherlands, and now this."

It probably hadn't helped that Lelouch had seen the Gekka's equipped with similar, though smaller anti armor missiles, to those the 4 Holy Swords had been outfitted with at Kyoto. The 300mm diameter design the Black Knights was actually originally an anti-tank weapon, these... well might as well admit it, "They're outfitting them with disposable SRM system, as we've been outfitting our own units. We can outfit the Sutherlands the same, the pods are little different than what attack helicopters are equipped with." It was the revolution of missiles that had severly weakened the power of air forces. In a world of three great power blocs AAA were easily distributed to client states to deter rivals... there was a reason one did not simply fly over Africa. "The system has been available for some time."

"Availble isn't the same as standing around for pictures," She snapped.

Lelouch blinked, and Schneziel arrived in time to clarify, "Sorry for the delay, oh good you've seen them." He declared looking at the images, "As you can imagine while we understand that Kyoto is alarmed, and with Sutherlands it was one thing, but these weren't taken by Britannian intelligence, there isn't an effort to conceal them. Obviously Kyoto must feel it needs to 'buff' itself up, so as not to be mistaken for weak in the wake of the Fuji attack." It was true that Cornelia had made no comment of note about the first defenders of the Fuji mine, and their subsequent losses had been written off as they looked at the rest of the picture. "This kind of thing is both dangerous, but potentially useful the liscensing of the colonial government could dispense these kind of provisions. Cornelia tacitly remits the NAC their own knightmares, and if the dragons attack them," Schneziel shrugged; securing the sakuradite mines was important, but protecting the settlement at Tokyo perhaps more so. Kyoto had been armed, Kirihara had had Burais stationed at Fuji before Cornelia had even arrived in Japan... Cornelia rubber stamping it was not likely to do a whole lot one way or another... even in the wake of the AIC, and the weekend war.

-scene break-

Lelouch had known, even as he sat in the Ashford student council headquarters that at some point arrangements for Hokkaido visitation were unavoidable. Cornelia's expectations though were difficult to deal with... the materiel damaged during Cromwell had been... severe. Various machines had survived combat, but were in need of overhaul, or had damage that simply could not be replaced because the tooling for those parts were in storage. Kyoto opening Gekka lines were of course concerning...

It was part of hte reason he was leaning against an interior wall instead of the window.. as he would have been doing even six months ago. Everything was upside down now... even more so in the wake ... of well there were plenty of options. European forces under Franco, and specifically Condor were busy keeping things tied down on the Western front... the Europeans might be able to manage that indefinitely after all they did enjoy the stronger position in the med... all in all that meant that what help was coming from the Homeland was dubious at best.

A part of him wanted to pass to Schneziel the reports from Konigsberg... about Knightmare development... not that it would do much good. Ugly as it might have been the Butterfly was a reliable machine as it was. Britannia had to have answer for that first... the of course there was the Strider as well... "What is with the Europeans and naming their Mass Production units after bugs?" he demanded as Suzaku pushed his way into the club room as he balanced a handful of boxes.

"Err what?"

Lelouch shook his head, "Nothing thinking was just thinking out loud. Its not something you need to worry about anyway,"  
"Lulu?" Shirley exclaimed, "Wait you're here?"

Milie laughed, "He had to come to class this morning, couldn't get out of that test eh lover boy?" She continued to giggle at him from behind her hand, "Anyway our VP should be available to us for a few more days." Not as much as Millie would have liked... no it had been bad enough that she'd had to hear about it from the Pudding Earl first... but she was at least getting details... Shirley much have been going out of her mind without even that much. Kallen on the other hand... the blonde had a sneaking suspicion she was getting the scoop as things came in... so really that left Shirley in the dark with Nunally and Rivalz.

"We're still on for Friday?" Kallen demanded.

"Yes." Lelouch admitted. Clovis would have been nuisance enough... Kirihara's estate being in Limbo... "Euphemia talked her way into going as well."

"Oh right the will," Suzaku muttered as Shirley sat there in the metaphorical dark as they talked back and forth without reading her in. "Yeah I'll be there with the Lancelot just in case."

The red ace rolled her eyes; it wasnt like she'd doubted that would be the case. "Of course she did, it doesn't matter." She was sub viceroy beause Cornelia was viceroy... but even that blonde idiot Clovis was helping out... the pink princess not so much.

-scene break-

General Gottwald settled in at the table. It was the opposite of the spartan furnishing of the mess hall the enlisted men took their meals at. It wasn't the post modernist furnishings of the office buildings that the Black Knights frequently took their coffee in. This was a place for brandy. It was a distinguished house built in English stylings with enough rooms to house a veritable army of servants, staff... and indeed an astounding number of guests in palatial comfort. For Jeremiah it would have been more appropriate... Lelouch should have been spending his time in places like this... but then Clovis should have as well... the prince's went opposite directions though...

Clovis's oppulence reeked of the noveau riche, and young nobility, and while Lelouch's money was just as far from being storied blue it took a decidedly more austere appearance. One prince appreciated the finer things too much, and the other too little. All that is sad, he supposes, but ultimately not the matter for discussion today. All that that was a pity Jeremiah knew that everything was politics... and both habits would draw scorn from different and even the same people in the homeland... there were too many royal princes... hell for that matter despite the emblem of blood there were cousins aplenty as well. That was a great many rivals, and foes... and without even concern the lesser nobility. Clovis had hugged Jeremiah the afternoon prior, more out of excitement, but it had been enough to take note that the blonde prince wasn't wearing armor underneath his fashionable designer atire.

"Its true then?" The dignitary stroked his mustache, "Goodness his Majesty must have something keen planned then. A knight of the round, and then yes..." It was hard to put into words how many royals were in Area 11... and then there was princess Nunally to consider as well.

Kyushu... the fighting on the island rather... had been a strange lot. It didn't help that Jeremiah wasn't quite certain of what to make of the young Knight of the Round. It had been eerie... it was eerie having the... a girl who was between Princess Nunnally and Prince's Lelouch's age barking orders in the fury and sound of battle. "The Prime Minster," Schneziel, "Will be needed back in the homeland soon, the Emperor's parliament is in a right state." The mustachioed fellow continued on unaware of Jeremiah's train of though.

"That is all the better for us," Jeremiah commented harshly, they'd be less likely to meddle if they were fighting amongst themselves... and more likely for Schneziel to work his arcane craft and muster them into compliance... but with our situation."  
"Can it be done?" The man interjected, "Oh yes general. It can be done. His Highness Prince Clovis has a pilot already suited for it." That was good... while not every machine was temperamental as the Lancelot had been having someone in the program who could pilot, and was familiar would do them all a world of good.

Originally Prince Clovis's project had been one of vanity. The Siegfried? A flying fortress, a warmachine with the same mobility as a knightmare, but far greater defensive capacity. Vanity however had given way to need, and Clovis had already decided to expand both to compensate for his newfound 'free time' and lessened responsibilities, as well as the damage to his Royal Guard... so three hulls were built... only two though had been ready for Kyushu. "Was he at Kyushu?"

"Yes we needed actual data, general. All three machines will have different load outs, thats been clear for months now."

-scene break-

Friday came sooner than he would have preferred. Lelouch didn't need reminding that Kirihara was dead... just another name to add to the list of people killed. It was still reassuring to have Suzaku, and Todoh both out there... Guilford was also there... extra body and what not. The reception proper was, to be honest, not even anything special. This was a will reading... not the funeral... that had been quietly handled as well... in no small part due to the cawing over 'Kirihara the traitor' being dead. The exact specifics of the PR war were someone elses problem though... the general public... japanese or Britannian would never likely know about the specifics of these proceedings. "You understand the vulnerabilities here?" He asked.

"If someone were to attack they could... with the viceroy or the remaining members of the six houses." Kallen replied letting the most obvious targets hang out in the open.

"Or us." Lelouch hissed. "The Gurren is on standby, Schneziel has his ship on overwatch, and so on... but..." The reality was that the underground subway network was designed with the same anti quake design frame as the Tokyo settlement... they might as well have been called bomb shelters given how hardy they were. "We may not have much warning." The network ran under the whole damn country. All four islands. "If this goes south, be ready for a fight."

Kallen obviously felt the warning was redundant, but still nodded, "Right, is the Tyke bomb here?"

"I don't know." Lelouch muttered. They couldn't really order the knight of the round about, and if she was here... well same situation with Guilford being around... "If she is, and that would be ideal, but don't rely on the Gawain being available." He looked around... catching sight of the shadow of a passing aircraft... Schneziel would be gone soon regardless of how this went.

As if to spite genre conventions it was quite clear today... not necessarily unseasonably warm, but rather somewhat muggy hinting at rain possibly later in the week. For now though, there was nothing obstructing the sun... and it made the glass warm... which was about the only thing in the room. Once everyone else had arrived, including Kaguya, refreshments... tea most obviously... would be provided as the minutae was detailed. There in lay the particular rub...Lelouch's security personel were away from the prince. Jeremiah was absent... though nearby and in a multi ton warmachine awaiting the call to arms. All in all there were plenty of reasons to be concerned... and thus while he would most certainly not admit it to Cornelia he could understand her concerns. There were limits though... there had to be... otherwise Lelouch would have disappeared into the aether years ago. Hiding from the dragons was unacceptable... and if Kyoto had been subhorned as the pawns in some plot well here was the opportunity to probe.

Kallen rather obtrusively introduced his ribs to her elbow, "Lelouch."

He stepped away from the glass, "Yes," He muttered, "How Kyoto must be penetrated is..." They had managed to kill Kirihara... this could not stand... a hand quietly... silently balled into a fist, his knuckles turning white beneath the gloves he was wearing. "is of paramount importance." Yes the financial details, and such were important... they were after all here to hear the last will and testament of Kirihara Taizo. Lelouch smoothed his hand out over his jacket, and schooled his features as the doors opened.

-scene break-

The milling about afterwards was hosted somewhere else. Everyone had, understandably, dispersed to other locations, and only in part out of security concerns. The refreshments were laid out... but truthfully Lelouch had no appetite at the moment. Even Kaguya had been somber. Jeremiah had added something strong and amber to the alcohol on the table... and from Darlton's expression of approval and Cornelia's scowl it might be worth a try...

The specific details of the will reading would be executed as efeciently as possible, but there were certainly going to be... issues. Taizo had several sons who would no doubt squabble over things, and then there were a myriad of other relatives to contend with... then of course there were lieutenants of Kirihara, aides, and others to account for as well. The plutocrat had after all been the head of a multinational corporation before Japan had fallen. Finding a traitor... would be difficult... and not something he'd be suitable to oversee... even if he had had the time for it.

He didn't expect Cornelia to understand. Todoh, and Suzaku might... they had been there... had seen the Halcyon days before the invasion. That thought was not as comforting as it had once been... after all he'd known Uchiwa before the war... that man too had been a confidant of the Kurugi regime.

"Plans for the weekend my lord?" Jeremiah inquired arriving a crystal cut glass in each hand.

One of which Lelouch accepted gratefully, as he contemplated his reply. Jeremiah rightfully highlighted that the weekend was upon them. Ashford Campus would be hosting events featuring both Clovis, and Euphemia... so staying at the school would be unwise. At least no one would recognize Nunnally. "Realistically I think that will depend on Schneziel." He declared bringing the glass to his lips. Kallen's father was coming in tomorrow from the homeland... which of course prevented a trip north of their own. "Stadtfeld makes his return, so Schneziel had plans tomorrow evening." It was of course by Clovis's standards a small party... and while it would be tiny to the abomination that the prince was planning it would be one Lelouch would be coming to... and no doubt so would several other Ashford blue bloods... there would be no getting away with it.

"And Princess Cornelia?"

That was actually a very good question given the complexities of the will, and the need to deal with the NAC Lelouch had completely ignored what the Viceroy might have for a social calendar. It wasn't as if she was likely to put in an appearance... Cornelia rarely deigned to lower herself to such functions in favor of the tedium of paperwork and the thrill of snap drills. If not for the dull thrumming of pain in his shoulder Lelouch would have liked that... to be in a knightmare even with just simulation rounds. That was not to be of course, "I will have to ask."Later... making his way across the room where Cornelia li Britannia stood near the ornate mantle of the fireplace ... well it could wait... "Was there something you had in mind Jeremiah?"

"Clovis has had his people working over time on the Siegfrieds."

Oh that was right... it was completely reasonable move on his brother's part. "Oh, and how is that coming?" Lelouch knew of course at some level he had reports that were delivered to him that addressed such things... but if Jeremiah had a hands on participation he was more likely to be up to date... and really Lelouch couldn't recall any relevant details... and none certainly under a week old... "Clovis's project has merit," He acquiesed, "has there been a development?"

There was a reason Lelouch didn't discuss the technical specifics of these things with Clovis, whose extent of acumen regarding knightmares was joyriding and little more. Simply put his half brother could fund a project, and did a reasonable job selecting personel but the minutae itself was beyond him. The blonde prince just lacked the mindset and organization to manage oversight. As it was even adding Schneziel to the mix Cornelia still had a higher mechnical aptitude and indeed better pilot; and most certainly in close quarters. The difference was Clovis had money, and connections who had money and quite frankly enough of it that his overhead was... paltry.

-scene break-

Helltanz's notes: So as I mentioned at the top of the chapter I wanted to address R2 and how it relates to this (as an aside Chapter 7 is already in progress at the time of writing) much of this fic focuses on Japan, but also on the wider world's backstory and development. Arc 1, if you will, of DP3 ends the day after new years in universe, at which point there will be a brief time skip of a several weeks. What this story will not do, unlike in canon is address the EU and Chinese via deus ex Machina. In fact much of Europe's involvement will be tangenital to the story, as it doesn't immediately impact Lelouch, though their economic develop and sakuradite will play somewhat of a role.

On a less long term note Clovis and Euphemia were both mentioned earlier as having things planned for Ashford, and I have a hard time writing Euphemia which complicates involving her in the plot. So there may be pacing issues with the next chapter.

-scene break-


End file.
